1. Unlike Jay, I have NEVER jumped out of a perfectly good airplane, although I do have my PPSEL - Private Pilot Single Engine Land - License!
2. My father taught me to play chess when I was five. I taught a school friend, David Goodman, to play chess when we were nine. Dave went on to become the Under 18 World Chess Champion! His sister marrying Raymond Keene (Grandmaster) didn't hurt his chess skills!
3. From 1967 to 1974 I went to school in England, at Latymer Upper School, where I met the above mentioned David Goodman. At the time, Latymer was an all boys school - now it is co-ed.
4. Other school friends of mine in England included Jamie Grant - and his younger brother Hugh Grant!
5. I have been to Hong Kong four times, including during the Tropical Storm / Typhoon which resulted in the spectacular China Airlines accident - no deaths - but the 747 had to be blown up to remove it from where it ended up! The approach to the former Hong Kong (Kai Tak) Airport was a thrill ride - here is an excerpt from Kai Tak Airport - Wikipedia:
The landing approach using runway 13 at Kai Tak was spectacular and world-famous. To land on runway 13, an aircraft first took a descent heading northeast. The aircraft would pass over the crowded harbour, and then the very densely populated areas on Western Kowloon. This leg of the approach was guided by an IGS (Instrument Guidance System, a modified ILS) after 1974. Upon reaching a small hill marked with a checkerboard in red and white, which is being marked as a middle marker in the final approach, the pilot needed to make a 47° visual right turn to line up with the runway and complete the final leg. The aircraft would be just two nautical miles from touchdown, at a height of less than 1000 ft when the turn was made. Typically the plane would enter the final right turn at the height of about 650 ft and exit it at the height of 140 ft to line up with the runway. Landing the 13 approach is already difficult with normal crosswinds since even if the wind direction is constant, it is changing relative to the airplane when the 47° visual right turn is being made. The landing would become even more challenging when crosswinds from the northeast were strong and gusty during typhoons. The mountain range northeast of the airport also makes wind vary greatly in both speed and direction; thus, varying the lift of the airplane. From a spectator's point of view, watching fully-loaded Boeing 747s banking at low altitudes and taking big crab angles during their final approaches was quite the thrill. Despite the difficulty, it was nonetheless used most of the time due to the prevailing wind direction in Hong Kong.
Due to the turn in final approach, no landings in runway 13 could use ILS and had to follow a Visual Approach. This made the runway unusable in low visibility conditions.
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