Today, we went somewhere that has been unusually quiet for at least six months now – the airport! Jamie, who is a Cathay pilot, suggested that we could try riding our bikes along the road that goes along the side and end of the runway, just outside the airport perimeter.
We parked the car at Cathay Pacific City on Scenic Road, which has an old DC 3 on display! You can get very close to it, we were surprised it had square windows.
The DC3 we saw at Cathay Pacific City is called Niki and it is from the second order of DC3’s that Cathay ordered in 1947. Cathay Pacific in those days was called Cathay Pacific Airways, and the logo didn’t look as nice as it does now. Cathay’s DC3’s had two crashes. On 24 February 1949, a Cathay Pacific Douglas DC-3 (VR-HDG) from Manila to Hong Kong, crashed near Braemar Reservoir after a go-around in poor weather. All 23 people on board died. And on 13 September 1949, a Cathay Pacific Douglas DC-3 (VR-HDW) departing from Anisakan, Burma, crashed on take-off when the right-hand main gear leg collapsed. There were no reported fatalities.
Hong Kong and Singapore are on the list of 10 airports with the most parked jets! Click here to read!
From just outside Cathay Pacific City, we got the S52 bus towards the Aircraft Maintenance Area. The route has some pretty unusual views – the high fence of the airport is on the right, and on the left there’s a quiet, protected stretch of water, Tung Chung Bay. We saw a guy kayaking and quite a few people fishing. There’s a small abandoned building on the waterfront, and you can see a pagoda which is on the Tung O Ancient Trail hike which is quite popular the other side of the bay. Above all this soars the gargantuan bridge to nowhere, I mean to Zhuhai and Macau. Up on the mountainside, the Ngong Ping 360 cable cars hung still and silent. We even spotted a little ferry which goes from Tuen Mun to Tai O.
We got off the bus at the end of its route, and walked back towards the car. It was a stunning day, with a bright blue sky with fluffy white clouds along the horizon. As a result, the sun was brutal! Luckily we had brought loads of water and also a flask of iced lemon tea. We walked as far as the end of the southern runway, which was being used for takeoffs. There were only about 4 takeoffs in the hour or so that we were there, the airport is unbelievably quiet. We saw at least 70 planes parked up, just as we glanced through the fence. There must have been many more out of our sight. Most of the aircraft we saw moving around were for freight – DHL, UPS and FedEx. HKIA is the world’s busiest airport for cargo traffic, so no surprises there. However, there’s some controversy relating to cargo airlines – DHL got in trouble recently, and UPS crew have called for HKG flights to be voluntary.
We managed to see a plane take off right over our heads which was incredible! It was so loud and so close. It was a UPS 747 from Hong Kong to Dubai.
When the heat got too unbearable we jumped back on the S52 bus (we got some funny looks as we were deffo the only non-airport workers on board!) to return to the car. Josh and Felix had piano in the afternoon, then we went to drop something off with Nancy the alterations lady. In the evening, the light show was lighting up the clouds very spookily!
