China Airlines Flight 605
China Airlines Flight 605 was a daily non-stop flight departing from Taipei at 6:30 a.m. and arriving at Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong at 7:00 a.m. local time. On November 4, 1993, the plane went off the runway and overran while landing during a storm. It was the first hull loss of a Boeing 747-400.
CI605 after the tail was removed soon after the accident
A Boeing 747-400, similar to the one involved
The aircraft photographed a few days after the accident without its vertical stabilizer.
Kai Tak Airport (IATA: HKG, ICAO: VHHH) was an international airport of Hong Kong from 1925 until 1998. Officially known as Hong Kong International Airport from 1954 to 6 July 1998, it is often referred to as Hong Kong International Airport, Kai Tak, or simply Kai Tak and Kai Tak International Airport, to distinguish it from its successor, Chek Lap Kok International Airport, built on reclaimed and levelled land around the islands of Chek Lap Kok and Lam Chau, 30 kilometres (19 mi) to the west.
Aerial view of Kai Tak Airport in 1998, the morning after its closure.
The airport was surrounded by high-rise buildings. The airport car park is at the centre, and offices are on the right of the photograph.
Aerial view of the airport in 1971, three years before the 1974 extension.
View of the airport in June 1971