7th Duke of Edinburgh's Own Gurkha Rifles and Khukuri Stories on behind.

pk977 · Aug 24, 2014

Here is the video, presenting the stories about the Gurkha regiments.
Also the new generation of Nepalese People who live and work.
I'm here to encourage more people who have a ability to make more donation to Kami Medication Fund. Keep HI business go on year by year.
One of the favorite food is momo introduce inside the Video and tattoo Henna.

Salute to all the Royal British Gurkha Regiments who defend this Asia nation against communist.
http://goo.gl/maps/aW34p

Wish you guy enjoy watch it!

[video=youtube_share;enHAWFY0f7U]http://youtu.be/enHAWFY0f7U[/video]

sams · Aug 24, 2014

I enjoyed watching the video, thank-you.

Shavru · Aug 24, 2014

Interesting pk977. I was a bit concerned at first that I wasn't going to understand any of it

Fortunately the interviews with the retired gurkhas are in English. I did not realize so many of them lived in Hong Kong. Awesome!

pk977 · Oct 30, 2014

Shavru said:
Interesting pk977. I was a bit concerned at first that I wasn't going to understand any of it Fortunately the interviews with the retired gurkhas are in English. I did not realize so many of them lived in Hong Kong. Awesome!

Yes, those warriors are live in there, Shavru.

kronckew · Oct 31, 2014

the first few seconds of the video reminded me of flying into kai tak airport in hong kong, the approach is over the city and the old city has buildings that almost extend into the flight path. looking out the window it looked like we were about 10 ft. above the roof tops, i could almost read the headlines on the newspaper held by one of the rooftop occupants, who of course didn't even flinch. i say 'almost' only because it was in chinese. i swear some buildings had tire marks on the roofs.

it is now thankfully, closed. replaced by Chek Lap Kok airport, on an artificial island offshore.

Shavru · Oct 31, 2014

LoL Kron, actually that was about the middle of my list of airports I hated Lukla in Nepal is the scariest I have EVERY been into. That short runway with the huge drop on one end and a huge mountain on the other end... I have never prayed harder...

kronckew · Oct 31, 2014

never been to that one, but have seen a tv show on the world's worst airports that included it. it showed a wrecked plane that came in a bit low & hit the rocks (boulders) on the drop bit. that did not turn out well. wreck had been there for years. (we only went to HK once.)

my 'favourite' was Kodiak airport, the Coast Guard shared the runways with the civilian airlines. pillar mountain directly in line at the end. usual approach was to come in low over the bay, land and hit the brakes. you only got one shot. no touch and goes. darn taxiway was also a few yards in back of the BOQ where i roomed when we were in port. flew in/out of that one regularly.
[video=youtube;9k8n-SxPiBE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9k8n-SxPiBE[/video]

this one shows the moorings where we parked the Connie (WMEC 619) & the table mountain a few hundred yards off the ship's port side where we occasionally saw kodiak bears wandering bout.
[video=youtube;vV0HPSxwbOQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vV0HPSxwbOQ[/video]

Shavru · Oct 31, 2014

Kodiak doesn't look like the sort of place I would want to land but if you have to at least a C-130 has the ability to get up and down pretty quick. It was interesting in the video, even when everyone braced for braking the cameraman still couldn't keep the camera up when they stomped on the brakes

ICK BOQ where they taxi right around you? Sounds like a sleepless night to me, or maybe they didn't takeoff and land all that often?

kronckew · Oct 31, 2014

most take offs & landings were during normal working hours. being that far up north, i couldn't say 'during the day' as sometimes the difference between sunrise & sunset was only a couple hours, and sometimes it was a couple hours between sunset and sunrise. anyway, you got used to it. relative peace & quiet after a few weeks on patrol listening to the engines & shipboard noises 24/7.

anyway, the main runway was a few hundred yards north, but the secondary '36' runway was a lot closer. the 'hand' in the photo below is roughly where the BOQ was/is (not sure if the bldg survived or was replaced - it was ww2 era). we did not have the lovely green trees and foliage between us and the taxiway. most traffic used the main runway, the 36 was for smaller craft, tho the 130's sometimes used it.

View attachment 485126

google earth's streetview doesn't work on the base

view from higher up:
View attachment 485133

most of the base was tucked in to the angle formed by the runways, so was always a bit noisy. the more east/west runway was the one with the mountain at the western end.

Steve Tall · Oct 31, 2014

Shavru said:
...Lukla in Nepal is the scariest I have EVERY been into. That short runway with the huge drop on one end and a huge mountain on the other end... I have never prayed harder...

I agree with you, Shavru. My Lukla story, in case you haven't seen it:

"...The weather was really bad and we were the only non-Nepalis on the small plane. We thought we were going to die, but at least we weren't screaming like the other passengers..."
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1144791-HI-New-Kamis?p=13085411#post13085411

pk977 · Nov 1, 2014

kronckew those pilot who land in the old Kai tak airport are well trained top pilot.
The single pathway across the Victoria Harbour and the RR engine is on top of your head with the wind blow.
You can play the sim flight and you will understand how hard it is!

Shavru · Nov 2, 2014

Steve, I missed that story. I think I joined the forum about a month after that was posted. I can not imaging landing there in bad weather. When I went through there it was actually relatively calm and it STILL scared me practically white

I think I would have probably been grabbing your jacket too if I had been on board with the landing you described. I was clutching at anything that FELT solid because the plane it's self was also not exactly the most inspiring vehicle I have ever traveled on... . Hmm 1970s I think you mentioned? About the same time I was there (1975) you must have flown Royal Nepal Air as I think that was the only airline that had regular flights in during those years. So I am guessing you were on a Twin Otter? About the only planes they fly that can go into that short a runway. Unless you took a charter?

PK977 which flight sim do you use? I had a Microsoft one that I loved but it is so old now airport modules for it are no longer available. It might be fun to try to land there. As long as I can hit reset and start over if I crash LOL.

Steve Tall · Nov 2, 2014

Shavru said:
...Hmm 1970s I think you mentioned? About the same time I was there (1975) you must have flown Royal Nepal Air as I think that was the only airline that had regular flights in during those years. So I am guessing you were on a Twin Otter? About the only planes they fly that can go into that short a runway. Unless you took a charter?...

You nailed it. Twin Otter and Royal Nepal Air.
It was in the late 80s, during the cold "off season" (January, February).

Shavru · Nov 2, 2014

Ah, wonder why I mistook that for 70s. Must have been having flash-back nightmares when I read your account and just overlayed the date with my own terror filled memory

I went in when the weather was generally pretty splendid in September just as I had been led to believe. Based on what I have been told of the weather during off season, I can not imagine going during the season you went. I was led to understand that they closed the airport regularly due to wind and snow during that time of year. And that a number of the flights that did leave to go there turned around due to weather changes before they arrived during that time of year. I would have never made your flight, I probably would have still been sleeping off the terror induced hangover when it left in the morning

Steve Tall · Nov 2, 2014

Shavru said:
...I was led to understand that they closed the airport regularly due to wind and snow during that time of year...

There were no flights for days on end, and we spent a lot of time at the Kath. airport, waiting for a break in the weather. They slipped in a flight at short notice, and we happened to be there at the right(?) time. Evidently they realized their mistake and didn't send any more flights for a while.

Shavru said:
...When I went through there it was actually relatively calm and it STILL scared me practically white ...

I see what you did there.