The approach to Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Airport was dubbed the "Kai Tak Heart Attack." Planes banked so low over Kowloon’s apartments that passengers could see locals watching TV.
Because the airport was surrounded by rugged mountains and dense urban blocks, pilots landing on Runway 13 could not make a standard straight-in approach. Instead, they flew straight toward a giant red-and-white checkerboard painted on the side of a nearby hill. At the last possible moment—less than two nautical miles from the threshold—pilots executed a sharp 47-degree right turn to line up with the runway.
During this maneuver, the aircraft roared just a few hundred feet above the rooftops of Kowloon City, rattling windows across the entire neighborhood.
Despite its global fame as an aviation hub, the name "Kai Tak" had nothing to do with flying. In 1912, two businessmen, Sir Ho Kai and Au Tak, formed a company to reclaim land in Kowloon Bay. Their goal was to build a high-end residential estate. The venture failed financially, and the colonial government eventually took back the land, converting it into a small grass airstrip for the Royal Air Force before it evolved into an international airport.
The airport’s growth came at the expense of local history. During the occupation of Hong Kong in World War II, the Japanese military decided to expand Kai Tak to accommodate larger aircraft. Facing a shortage of building materials, they demolished parts of the historic Kowloon Walled City, tearing down its ancient stone walls to use as aggregate for the runway. They also leveled Sung Wong Toi, a sacred hill dedicated to the last emperor of the Song Dynasty, to clear the approach path.
When Kai Tak finally closed in 1998 and relocated to the much larger island of Chek Lap Kok, it fundamentally changed the geography of Kowloon. For decades, strict building height restrictions had been enforced to prevent planes from clipping skyscrapers. The moment the airport closed, those limits were lifted, triggering a massive construction boom that transformed the Kowloon skyline. Today, the massive man-made promontory that once served as Kai Tak's runway has been repurposed into the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal, complete with an aviation-themed public park at its tip.