Leg 50 Hong Kong (VHHH Hong Kong International) to Beijing, China (ZBAA Beijing Capital)
This leg: 1,159Nm, 4:49 flying time
Total so far: 54,535Nm, 208:44 flying time
Well, we are off to Beijing today, taking a pretty straight run directly North from Hong Kong for about 1,100Nm. Nice easy flight I think. We begin heading West, then turning South as we leave Hong Kong to circle back around to the North and we should get another nice view over Hong Kong itself. We then straight line it North cross country to Beijing. When we arrive, our approach should take us nicely over the city before we loop around to land heading South.
We are stocking up today with a particularly nice Hong Kong delicacy: Chinese fermented rice poached egg soup.
If it tastes as good as it sounds…
Pretty good weather in Hong Kong this morning, so time to get going
Our departure route takes us out and over the South China Sea and we circle back to the North, crossing right over the top of Hong Kong for some more great views
Crossing into mainland China
Crossing the Dong River - still very built up here, towns and cities in all directions
Heading more into the countryside and passing over the Lianhe Reservoir
Some small mountains ahead, although we shouldn’t be crossing anything too tall today. This is the Nankunshan National Forest Park - there are certainly plenty of trees
Making our way across central China - quite flat really with the occassional ridge of hills
The Shangyou River and Reservoir
This is about as mountainous as its getting
The huge Zhelin Reservoir off to our right hand side - as far as the eye can see
And the Yangtze River looks vast with Huanggang on our left
Another vast reservoir - the Nianyu Reservoir - which is pretty much the last thing before we start to head over hundreds of miles of flatlands
It’s incredibly flat out here - but also clearly all of the land is cultivated
And it just seems to keep going forever in all directions
As we approach Beijing, is is still flat, still cultivated, but now more towns and built up areas, but all in incredibly angular patterns and shapes
Beijing sprawls in all directions. On our left, the National Centre for Performing Arts, the Great Hall of the People, Tiananmen Square, the Palace Museum and many other museums, To our right, the Temple of the Sun, CCTV Headquarters and what looks like the financial district
A great view of the Olympic Park on our left as we leave the city behind to start our approach pattern
We are doing a 180 degree turn to come back towards the airport from the North, over the small mountains North of Beijing itself. We will be passing Huairou Reservoir to the right on our final approach
Locked and loaded for final approach now, straight in, good weather, nothing to worry about
It’s a big airport, and I can see at least 3 runways - we are coming in to the furthest right one
Nice approach in and landing
And here we are parked up in Beijing
We need to head West now towards the Himalayas, should be fun!