Mefesto said:I'm not sure (where's A4's) but I believe the IGS was a psudo ILS on the checkerboard approach into Kai Tak. It was basically a localizer that took you down to a huge orange and white checkerboard on the side of a mountain. When you saw the checkerboard, you made a hard right turn to line up on final. Made for some spectacular pictures/video over the years, too bad the airport is no more... then again IGS could just be some british term for ILS.
From my CRAF days (maybe some of the current military guys herein have a different experience):Isn't this approach a lot like the one into the base in Cuba where you have to make a tight turn to avoid overlying Cuban territory or something?
From my CRAF days (maybe some of the current military guys herein have a different experience):
It -- GITMO -- used to be more difficult 10 years ago and earlier ... not so much anymore. At least not so much since @ the late 1990's when the Cubans "opened" up the west airspace "without prejudice" for approaches to RW 10. There's no need to fly the formerly challenging visual approach with a 90 degree turn to final. In any case, it's easier (a relative term) than Kai-Tak IGS 13 ever was ..... Leeward Tower NS Gitmo will not approve a "straight-in" to RW 10 because, technically, it doesn't exist. But you can request a long visual final which will give you at least a 3 mile final. And if you need "more" ... you just request it.
PLUS, NS Guantanamo Bay is relatively low terrain ... with relatively good WX (compared to the SE Asia monsoons) ... the aircraft are flown by relatively competent round-eye military or CRAF contract crews ... and usually a single NAV frequency visual approach.
The "old" Kai-Tak is still the yardstick by which "tough" approaches, VFR or IFR, are measured. Combine frequent bad monsoonal WX, foreign controllers, a mixture of VOR/ADF/ILS frequencies, tight turns close to the ground, high elevations right next to the runway, crosswinds, and the need for a Guiness and you have quite an approach "problem".
It got better towards the "end" when more US, Brit, and Aussie contract controllers and more radar "help" around the pattern became available.
Sooooooooo .... "they" closed Kai-Tak and opened the new "improved" airport out west.
...... Kai-Tak on a "good" day ...