Summary
- Ethiopian Airlines defied unfavorable weather conditions to land their aircraft safely at Hong Kong International Airport, becoming the one flight to achieve this that evening.
- The arrival of the Ethiopian Boeing 787-9 garnered worldwide attention and have become the most-tracked flight on FlightRadar24.com on the time.
- While Ethiopian Airlines managed to land safely, quite a few other airlines cancelled their flights attributable to the strong storm and unsafe weather conditions in Hong Kong.
On Friday, September 1st, an Ethiopian Airlines aircraft took the daring decision to land at Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) despite the chaotic weather being experienced by town. As such, the aircraft became the just one to land on the airport that evening.
The flight
The flight in query is ET-608, an Ethiopian Airlines service that operates from Addis Ababa in Ethiopia to Hong Kong via Bangkok. The airline has fifth-freedom rights to operate between Bangkok and Hong Kong and operates this route with a thrice-weekly frequency on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
On the day in query, the weather was completely unfavorable for aircraft operations attributable to Super Typhoon Saola, which recorded maximum winds of 210 kmph (130 mph). Reports from Bloomberg indicate Hong Kong’s flag carrier, Cathay Pacific, suspended operations from 14:00 on Friday until 10:00 on Saturday morning.
Thus, the arrival of an Ethiopian Boeing 787-9 on the airport made it all of the more interesting for onlookers and viewers around the globe on flight tracking apps.
Photo: Hafit Irawan | Shutterstock
On the time, the aircraft (ET-AXK) became probably the most tracked flight worldwide on FlightRadar24.com, with over 6,400 people tracking the aircraft’s approach into Hong Kong.
Tricky arrival
The aircraft landed in Hong Kong safely at around 17:06, which was three hours after the previous passenger aircraft arrived in town. Reports suggest that the weather on the time would have proved difficult for the aircraft, considering the highly wet runway, paired with moderate turbulence and significant wind shear detected.
Data from the airport weather information system suggests that the crosswind experienced by the aircraft through the landing phase was around 32 knots. This in itself is interesting because sources comparable to CRAM state that the crosswind demonstrated limit set by Boeing for a 787 landing is 33 knots and a limit of 35 knots for crosswind take-off.
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Easy Flying
This means that while on the sting of the operational limit, the pilot has not exceeded any aircraft limitations when landing the aircraft in this case.
Massive cancellations
While Ethiopian Airlines managed to land the aircraft safely, several other operators cancelled their flights into Hong Kong. The storm is recorded to be the strongest to hit town prior to now five years, and the weather conditions not only halted flight operations but additionally most public transport operations across town.
Even before the storm hit town, over 30 flights had been cancelled by Hong Kong Airlines. Moreover, based on the forecast, Cathay Pacific had already planned to suspend operations because it did on Friday afternoon. Nevertheless, the airline has advised that there could potentially be further disruptions on Saturday based on the weather.
Nevertheless, the operational disruption is widespread and affects International airlines that operate to Hong Kong as well. In all, around 460 flights were cancelled on Friday, and airlines comparable to Emirates and Singapore Airlines, which deploy the Airbus A380 to Hong Kong, had cancelled their flights as well.
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Easy Flying
While the A380 is well able to handling higher crosswinds and weather conditions, the flights were probably cancelled attributable to obvious safety concerns and the unpredictable nature of the weather experienced at HKG on Friday.