Feature
Typhoons, fog and city lights: weather and night at Kai Tak
Six weather presets, a lightning toggle, gusts that push the aircraft around and a night mode that lights up Kowloon. The same approach, very different flights.
The Runway 13 approach is hard on a clear afternoon. Fly Kai Tak lets you make it harder with six weather presets and a lightning toggle, or make it beautiful by flying after dark.
Six presets, one lightning toggle
Pick Clear, Rain, Typhoon, Storm, Low cloud or Fog on the setup screen, or switch while you fly. Each has its own wind, gusts, turbulence and visibility, and the wind and turbulence affect the aircraft. Lightning is a separate toggle that adds flashes and thunder to any weather, and Storm turns it on anyway.
Visibility is the big change. In the typhoon it drops to about 2 km, and in fog to under 1 km, so the checkerboard may not appear until you are close to it.
The radio tells you the truth
Approach quotes the live weather. In the typhoon test flight it gave QNH 985, while on a clear day the same call said 1012. Pay attention to the wind: on clear days the HUD showed 070/8G10, in the rain 110/14G20 and in the typhoon 080/36G52.
You can hear it too
The sound is part of the weather: engines, wind, rain, thunder and the ground proximity warning system (GPWS) callouts. The water reacts as well. Waves and whitecaps are calm on clear days and white-streaked in a typhoon, with surf on the sea walls.
After dark
Switch Time of day to Night and Kowloon lights up. The windows are lit, the street lights are on and the neon signs glow. The runway, approach and lead-in lights are on too, with the sequenced lead-in strobes running to touchdown, and the PAPI to help you judge your glidepath.
Tall buildings carry red obstruction lights on their rooftops, some of them flashing under the approach, and the Garden Hill beacon in Sham Shui Po marks the hill. The ships carry masthead, stern, red and green lights, the police launches flash blue, and the city glows on the water.
Try this
Start with Night and Rain. If a typhoon approach is more than you want to hand-fly yet, switch on the autopilot and watch it from the cabin or the control tower, then take over once you have seen where it goes.
13 號跑道進場，喺晴朗嘅下午已經夠難。Fly Kai Tak 用六個天氣預設同一個閃電開關令佢更難，或者你可以入夜後飛，睇下更靚嘅景色。
六個預設，一個閃電開關
喺設定畫面揀晴朗、落雨、颱風、雷暴、低雲或大霧，飛行途中亦可以轉。每個預設都有自己嘅風、陣風、亂流同能見度，而風同亂流會影響飛機。閃電係獨立開關，可以喺任何天氣加入閃光同雷聲，而雷暴天氣會自動開啟。
能見度先係最大分別。颱風下降到約 2 公里，大霧更低過 1 公里，所以棋盤可能要到好近先見到。
無線電講真話
進場台會報出實時天氣。喺颱風測試飛行入面，佢報嘅 QNH 係 985，而晴朗嗰日同一個呼叫係 1012。留意風：晴天 HUD 顯示 070/8G10，落雨 110/14G20，颱風 080/36G52。
仲聽得到
聲音都係天氣嘅一部分：引擎、風、雨、雷，以及近地警告系統（GPWS）嘅提示。水面亦會有反應。晴天嗰陣波浪同白頭浪好平靜，颱風嗰陣就一片白色紋路，仲有浪打防波堤。
日落之後
將「時間」轉做夜間，九龍就亮晒起來。窗口亮燈，街燈開著，霓虹招牌發光。跑道、進場同引導燈都亮，連埋順序閃光嘅引導閃燈一路閃到著陸點，仲有 PAPI 幫你判斷下滑道。
高樓天台有紅色障礙燈，部分喺進場航道下面閃動，而深水埗嘅嘉頓山障礙燈標示山丘。船隻有桅燈、尾燈同紅綠舷燈，水警快艇閃藍燈，城市嘅光映喺水面。
試吓呢個
由夜間同落雨開始。如果颱風進場你仲未想手動飛，就開自動駕駛，喺客艙或者控制塔睇住佢飛，睇清楚路線之後先接手。
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