In the mid 1990s when Kai Tak was Hong Kong’s crown jewel airport of the region, it attracted aviation fans and photographers from all over the world to experience the heart-pounding action of the famous checkerboard approach.

I made several visits to Hong Kong back in the day to experience Kai Tak first hand. And during those visits, I also made several visits to Guangzhou (formerly Canton) to soak up the action on mainland China.

Unlike the wide-body hustle and bustle of Kai Tak, Guangzhou served up generous portions of mainland China airline action, and back then, many of the Chinese fleets still used Russian jetliners including IL-86, Yak-42 and Tu-154 classics. So the appeal was more than obvious!

The following article was written for Airliners magazine and documented one such memorable visit. I was also able to shoot video of my visit which is available as a top selling aviation DVD.

The current airline scene in China is sadly nothing more than boring Boeings and plastic Airbuses. But back then, it was an airplane lover’s dream come true!