Fly Kai Tak

New · Aircraft

Helicopters over Hong Kong, 1998

The Government Flying Service at Kai Tak, the Macau shuttle from Shun Tak and a hotel helicopter on the Peninsula roof now fly in the sim.

3 min readFly Kai Tak
Red helicopters on the two helipads of the Kai Tak south apron, beside the flight services building.
The Government Flying Service pads on the Kai Tak south apron.

Helicopters now work Hong Kong's skies in the sim. The Government Flying Service flies from its pads at Kai Tak, a Macau shuttle runs from Shun Tak, and a hotel helicopter tours the harbour.

What is new

  • Two helipads on the Kai Tak south apron, beside the flight services building, with a Black Hawk and an S-76 that lift off, fly a sortie over Kowloon Bay and come back. Two more helicopters stand parked beside the building.
  • Shun Tak Heliport at Sheung Wan, on the roof of the Macau ferry terminal. Two S-76 take turns: one leaves for the west past Lantau while the other arrives.
  • A helipad on the roof of the Peninsula Hotel tower in Tsim Sha Tsui, with a helicopter that flies a sightseeing loop over the harbour.
  • The rotors spin up before lift-off and spin down after landing. Wheels fold away on the S-76. Lights show at night.
  • Helicopters appear on the map as round blue dots. The shuttle and hotel flights stay on the ground in a typhoon, a storm, fog or low cloud, and the Government Flying Service stays on the ground in a typhoon.
Two helipads on the Kai Tak south apron with red helicopters, one with its rotor turning, beside the flight services building.
The Government Flying Service pads on the south apron.
A red Black Hawk climbing away from Kai Tak over Kowloon.
A Black Hawk climbs away from the apron.
A white S-76 leaving the raised Shun Tak helipad, which stands on piers beside the towers.
The Macau shuttle leaves Shun Tak.
A dark green helicopter leaving the rooftop helipad of a tower in Tsim Sha Tsui.
The rooftop helipad at the Peninsula.
The hotel helicopter flying over Victoria Harbour.
The hotel helicopter on its harbour loop.

What the research found

  • The Government Flying Service (GFS) moved into new premises on the Kai Tak south apron from August 1992 and took over from the Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force on 1 April 1993. Its 1997 fleet was 6 S-76 and 3 S-70 helicopters and 2 King Air aeroplanes. It moved to Chek Lap Kok with the new airport in 1998.
  • The Macau shuttle began in November 1990 with Bell 222 helicopters. Three S-76C replaced them from 1997. Its Hong Kong pad, on the ferry terminal at Shun Tak Centre, was built in 1986.
  • The Peninsula's rooftop helipad was certified in 1994.
  • The RAF Wessex of 28 Squadron left Kai Tak when the squadron disbanded in June 1997, so none are in the sim.

The full notes and sources are in docs/helicopters.md in the repository.

What is made up

  • Liveries, flight routes and times. The shuttle goes out and back in 1,300 seconds of sim time, and helicopters vanish when they are 30 km away.
  • The height of the Shun Tak pad.

What did not change

  • The helicopters run on the sim clock, so rewind and fast-forward still work.
  • The autopilot still lands in every weather preset, and flying with no input still ends in a crash.

直升機而家喺模擬器入面飛嚟飛去。政府飛行服務隊由啟德嘅直升機坪出發，有直升機由上環信德中心往返澳門，仲有酒店嘅直升機喺維港上空觀光。

有咩新嘢

  • 啟德南停機坪、飛行服務大樓旁邊有兩個直升機坪，一架黑鷹同一架 S-76 會起飛，喺九龍灣上空飛一轉再返嚟。大樓旁邊仲泊咗另外兩架直升機。
  • 上環信德中心直升機場，喺港澳碼頭嘅天台。兩架 S-76 輪流飛：一架向西飛過大嶼山，另一架同時返嚟降落。
  • 尖沙咀半島酒店大樓天台有直升機坪，有一架直升機喺維港上空飛觀光路線。
  • 起飛前旋翼會轉起上嚟，降落後會慢慢停。S-76 嘅輪會收起。夜晚會亮燈。
  • 直升機喺地圖上係藍色圓點。颱風、風暴、大霧或低雲嗰陣，穿梭機同酒店直升機唔會飛；政府飛行服務隊只係颱風嗰陣唔飛。
啟德南停機坪、飛行服務大樓旁邊有兩個直升機坪同紅色直升機，其中一架旋翼轉緊。
南停機坪上嘅政府飛行服務隊直升機坪。
一架紅色黑鷹直升機喺九龍上空離開啟德。
一架黑鷹由停機坪爬升。
一架白色 S-76 離開信德嘅高架直升機坪，坪架喺柱上面，旁邊係大廈。
澳門穿梭直升機離開信德。
一架深綠色直升機離開尖沙咀大樓天台嘅直升機坪。
半島酒店天台嘅直升機坪。
酒店直升機飛越維多利亞港。
酒店直升機飛維港觀光路線。

資料搜集發現咩

  • 政府飛行服務隊由 1992 年 8 月起逐步搬入啟德南停機坪嘅新院址，1993 年 4 月 1 日接替皇家香港輔助空軍。1997 年機隊有 6 架 S-76、3 架 S-70 直升機同 2 架 King Air 固定翼飛機。1998 年隨新機場搬去赤鱲角。
  • 澳門穿梭直升機服務 1990 年 11 月開始，用貝爾 222。1997 年起由三架 S-76C 接替。佢喺香港嘅直升機坪建於 1986 年，位於信德中心港澳碼頭上面。
  • 半島酒店天台直升機坪 1994 年獲批准啟用。
  • 英國皇家空軍 28 中隊嘅 Wessex 喺 1997 年 6 月中隊解散時離開啟德，所以模擬器入面冇。

詳細筆記同資料來源喺儲存庫嘅 docs/helicopters.md。

邊啲係虛構

  • 塗裝、飛行路線同時間。穿梭機喺模擬時間 1,300 秒內來回，直升機飛到 30 公里外就會消失。
  • 信德直升機坪嘅高度。

有咩冇變

  • 直升機跟模擬時鐘行，所以倒帶同快進照用得。
  • 自動駕駛喺所有天氣預設都仍然降落到，冇操控嘅話仍然會墜機。

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