2600027
C.S. 20A
CONFIDENTIAL·
SAVINGRXX Despatch
From the Governor, Hong Kong
To the Secretary of State for XXX Foreign & Commonwealth
Affairs.
Repeated to:-
Repeated to:-
27th February, 1969
My Reference....
CR 13/951/68
Your Reference...
No. 197
No.
No.
D
Colonial Development and Welfare Fund
Expansion of Aeronautical Telecommunications Capability at Kai Tak Airport
3 MAR 1969
RECEIVED
STRY 51
-3 JUN 1969
HICK 21/12
The purpose of this paper is to make an application for a contribution from the Colonial Development and Welfare Fund of half the cost of: -
RECON
ARGI
(i)
a new surveillance radar for Air Traffic Control at Kai Tak Airport; and
(ii)
an instrument approach system for Runway 13 to improve the safety and operations of the Airport.
Surveillance Radar
2.
1 Murt 6393
The need for surveillance radar arises because of the need to regulate increasing air traffic. In former times the need for control was not so urgent because the air was less crowded and planes travelled at relatively modest speeds. At present, peak traffic is running at 20 planes an hour and is expected to reach 30 planes an hour in 1974. It is possible to keep planes under surveillance without radar if the traffic is below a level of eight to ten planes an hour, but beyond this, such a system becomes both impractical and uneconomical. Surveillance radar is therefore the only practical solution.
3.
The radar coverage available at the airport at present consists of the following:-
(a)
a narrow beam precision radar for instrument landing. on Runway 31;
(b)
a long-range radar operated by the R. A. F. at Tai Mo Shan and utilized by the Civil Aviation Department; and
(c)
a short-range radar operated by the Civil Aviation Department and situated at Kowloon Tsai.
The precision radar cannot be used for surveillance purposes. Therefore this function can only be carried out by (b) and (c). One drawback of the long- range radar is that while it is effective for ranges between 50 and 225 miles it is inoperative for ranges under 50 miles. The departmental radar has a
/range of ....