Destination: Hong Kong

By Bill Smith (16 May 2006)

Destination: Hong Kong

From our first glimpse of Hong Kong's dramatic skyline during our approach into Chek Lap Kok, we knew we were about to experience something quite special. Unfortunately, nothing could prepare us for Hong Kong's extreme heat, in stark contrast to the cool wet Australian winter from whence we had come.

Last August's visit to Hong Kong was my family's first and it left us wanting more. For my next visit there, I knew that I would have to do some things differently. To begin with, a stay during the relatively cooler temperatures of March/April would allow for a lot more exploration the city during daylight hours. Otherwise, take it from me, the tendency is to dash from one air-conditioned facility to the next in a desperate attempt to escape the merciless heat and humidity. It's funny how air-conditioned museums, shopping malls and even railway stations can seem like fascinating places to kill time when outside the sun is trying to hammer all of the city's pedestrians into the pavement.

Anyway, rather than wait for the next conference to beckon me back there, I decided to re-live the experience of a 7 hour 40 minute flight to Hong Kong from Perth (YPPH) flying myself using Microsoft's FS2004. And this time, (weather permitting) I should get a wide-screen view of the city from the captain's seat instead of having to steal glimpses through the tiny passenger windows of an A330. (OK, this time it would only be a two-dimensional adventure but you can't have everything can you?)

Departure:

The only direct flights to Hong Kong from my hometown are with Cathay Pacific and Qantas, both of whom operate Airbus A330s. QF67 departs Perth at 9.30 AM three days a week, and from my own observation the economy class cabin is usually only just over half-full. (I can only assume that Qantas carry a huge amount of cargo to maintain the route's economic viability.)

Technically, the middle of March is autumn in Perth, but on the morning of my departure it was shaping up to be a very hot day. I miscalculated that my Project Open Sky A330 would be using about 15,000 lbs of fuel per hour during its high altitude cruise, so I had far more fuel on board than I needed when I pushed back from Perth's international terminal (picture, left) and taxied out to runway 21.

The FS2004 navigation log shows that QF67 left the ground at 9.39 AM local time. Under instructions from ATC I turned north and climbed through clear skies up to just 7000 feet (initially), before being cleared to 18,000 feet.

Climb

You may have read criticism of the freeware POSKY A330 flight modeling with regard to the way it climbs, or rather, the way it loses speed in the climb, stalls and falls out of the sky. This matches my own early experience with the A330, until fellow flightsim fan Rik Vyverman educated me in the correct climb technique for this aircraft. (Rik should know, because he later went on to fly real Airbus aircraft for a European charter operator.)

Basically, after holding a maximum 250 knots below 10,000 feet, the A330 must thereafter be allowed to accelerate to 300 knots in a very shallow climb. The rate of climb can be gradually increased but the speed must be kept high and the pitch closely monitored. In a real Airbus the flight management computer will look after all this for you but in a freeware package such as this the rate of climb and airspeed requires constant judicious input by the operator. Once you've mastered it, it's very satisfying. (And is far more realistic than the 5000 feet/minute climb rate of the overpowered default 777s). QF67 managed to climb from FL260 to FL310 at 1500 feet/minute at a Mach 0.67 with engine N1 at around 95%.

Cruise

Initial cruise was at FL310 (picture, right) but I later requested a climb to FL350. The winds at this height were a relatively calm 48knots from 277 degrees. Contrast this with last August's flight when our captain informed us that we were encountering 150mph westerly winds! The next screen shot (picture, left) illustrates QF 67's track inland of the Western Australian coastline at 10.51 local time. Look closely and you can see that at Mach 0.80 the A330 was only burning 10,600lbs of fuel per hour.

By 12.15 PM QF67 was in range of the Bali VOR and I requested a climb to FL390. As we flew over Bali I tuned the communications radio to the Bali ATIS frequency to get the local weather. (For the record it was a cloudy, 31 degrees C with light northwesterly winds and visibility at 6 miles.) I discovered similar conditions at Kota Kinabalu when I flew over there a little later on. As I headed towards Manila airspace, I further increased our cruise altitude, up to FL410. It was a very smooth ride, in contrast to the very rough conditions we experienced last August at the same altitude. Later, as our heading changed to 330 degrees, I reduced our altitude to FL400.

Approach

As I mentioned earlier, I had too much fuel on board at he start of this trip. So much so, that by the time I neared the top of my descent into Hong Kong, I could have offered to fly the passengers on to Tokyo for no extra charge. QF67 was about 130 nm out from the Cheung Chau VOR when I received instructions from ATC to descend to FL340. I was hoping that the prevailing winds would allow an approach similar to the one I had experienced in my real life landing at Chek Lap Kok last August. I pressed the "PROC" (procedures) button on the Garmin GPS to check out the available options for an approach into runway 25R. There were three options, but the one marked "TD transition" looked to be the closest match to my previous real life experience.

Later, at around 80 nm from my destination, ATC asked me to turn north and to expect vectors for an approach into runway 25L. Yay! The prevailing winds were how I wanted them. My response was to ask them to "Stand by" while I selected and then requested an alternative approach, with a transition through the Tango Delta VOR for a landing on 25R. This request was approved and again I used the "PROC" button to select and activate the TD transition.

My Airbus's autopilot would now automatically follow the track as displayed on the Garmin GPS. (Well it would so long as the GPS/Nav switch remained in "GPS" mode.) Best of all, ATC would not have to keep instructing me to turn left and right as they would on a vectored approach. QF67 was down to 8000 feet as it neared the TD VOR. (picture, right) Look carefully at the screen shot and you can see that my plane would continue to head north before automatically making a ninety degree left hand turn to line up with runway 25R.

The next radio message I received from Hong Kong Approach was "Qantas 67. You are 27 miles southeast, cleared ILS runway 25R approach via TD transition. Maintain 8000 until established on the localizer. Contact Hong Kong tower on 118.20 when inbound on approach."

This automated approach would free me up to gaze out the windows at the magnificent city skyline on the left-hand side of the plane. Well, not quite, because I still had a few procedural matters to attend to. Firstly, I had to pre-set the nav radios to the 25R frequency. (I found this frequency by cycling through the pages of the GPS "nearest airport " database for VHHH.)

Hong Kong's ATIS informed me that winds were 271 at 8, scattered clouds at 6200 feet and a temperature of 25 degrees C.

What's next? I had to check that I had remembered to turn on the landing lights, arm the spoilers and set the autobrakes. Oh yes, and I also had to change the com radio to the tower frequency and make contact, slow the plane to 200 knots and extend the flaps. And most importantly (as I do not have any approach charts for Hong Kong), I had to monitor the DME to calculate the correct height during my final approach. Of course, once I had QF67 lined up with the runway I also had to remember to change the GPS/Nav switch to "Nav" mode so that I could lock the autopilot into approach mode for the ILS on runway 25R.

All of this activity, combined with just 3 miles of visibility on the afternoon of my arrival, means that I was too busy to see much of the vibrant city vista below. In fact, during the last 3 miles of the approach QF67 was at times engulfed in low cloud. As soon as the runway lights appeared through the gloom (picture, left), I turned off the autopilot and autothrottles and hand flew the touchdown.

Touchdown

Don't like to brag, but it was a very smooth touchdown. After turning off the runway I turned off the strobes and landing lights, neutralized the trim and retracted the flaps. I switched the Com radio to ground frequency "Qantas 67, taxi to gate Sierra 31 via taxiway A5 A A6 B V H H7." According to the A330's clock I was a few minutes ahead of the Qantas schedule. As I began to taxi to the gate I was suddenly reminded of how fresh and alert our Qantas flight crew looked as they made their way through Hong Kong immigration and customs. They didn't look like they'd just completed an eight-hour shift. They looked like they were ready to start a shift!

City Tour

Chek Lap Kok airport is located some 45 minutes from the city center. It is linked by a train, which runs under the harbor, as well as by a road that runs over magnificent suspension bridges all the way to Kowloon. It is here that the traffic converges and disappears into the cross-harbor tunnel, where it re-emerges in the district of Wan Chai. You can't drive this route in FS2004 but you can fly over it in a helicopter. My computer's crappy video card cannot do justice to this experience, so instead I'll refer you to the picture at right which I took last August. In the left-hand foreground of the photo you may just make out the Wan Chai heliport which is busy day and night, seven days a week.

There is much to interest the first time Hong Kong visitor but some of the things that stood out to me were:

1. The airport: The HK airport terminal buildings on Lantau Island are absolutely magnificent.
2. The cars: In HK there are more Mercedes and BMW cars per square kilometer than in any other place I've ever been. They are mostly big and shiny and (as in Japan), painted black, gray or silver. I hardly saw any 4WD vehicles. Just not fashionable here I guess. It is very rare to see a car more than eight years old. In truth, a car in HK is more of a status symbol than a practical mode of transport. That's because of...
3. The fantastic public transport: Getting around Hong Kong using the public transport system is easy when you purchase a pre-paid Octopus card. You use this card on all ferries, buses and trains and you'll be left wondering wonder why all cities don't adopt this type of system. (The reason is that only cities with populations of 6.8 million people can afford to pay for it.)
4. The "Peak" is reached via the Peak Tram up an incredibly steep incline for a fantastic view of the city. Unfortunately you can't always be guaranteed a good view because of ...
5. Environmental pollution restricts visibility on most days, which is a shame because the harbor and surrounding buildings are magnificent.
6. Food, food and more food. It's great and it's relatively cheap. Absolutely the best Dim Sum I've ever had. What more can I say?
7. Shopping. (If you like that sort of thing). Suggest you take a bus to the Stanley Markets. If you don't, then head for the Hong Kong History Museum instead. It's brilliant!
8. The number eight. You'll see it everywhere as the Chinese consider it to be very lucky.

If you can't get there in person sometime soon, then maybe you should think about purchasing Flightsoft's Hong Kong scenery add-on for FS2004.

Cheers,

Bill Smith
Perth, Western Australia
leesmith@ca.com.au
Author 'Get Real!' The word's first flightsim novel
Visit www.toomuchfs.com