Kitakyushu City in Fukuoka Prefecture was selected as one of Japan’s top three nightscape cities, and JAL and JALPAC organized a “Night Tour of Kitakyushu Airport” at Kitakyushu Airport, which is located on the Seto Inland Sea coast of Kitakyushu City. The tour included a nighttime view of the airport and city from the connecting bridge while listening to an expert talk about the airport, a paper airplane flight in the closed departure lobby, and a final tour of an airplane undergoing maintenance. JAL and JALPAC collaborated on tours such as “Enjoy Boeing 737 at Obihiro Airport One-day Charter Flight” seriously conceived by an active pilot, and “Boeing 777-200ER Charter Flight Tour to Los Angeles 4 days/6 days” that takes passengers on a ferry (transport) flight of a retired aircraft. and other unique and irresistible plans for airplane lovers. This time, the concept of the night tour of Kitakyushu Airport is to “experience Kitakyushu, the city of night views,” and the tour is designed to allow visitors to enjoy the Kitakyushu Airport at night. Kitakyushu Airport is one of the few airports in Japan that can operate 24 hours a day. When it was time to start the tour, participants gathered one after another and headed for the first destination, the New Kitakyushu Airport Liaison Bridge.
A bridge expert explains the amazing bridges in an easy-to-understand manner We arrived at the observation deck on the Kanda Town side of the New Kitakyushu Airport Bridge after riding in three large buses. Mr. Shogo Matsunaga, a “bridge doctor” who is involved in bridge design, management, and repair, gave an explanation of the bridge. The bridge is 2.1 km long at sea, but its original length includes the area before the Kanda Kitakyushu Airport Interchange on the Higashi-Kyushu Expressway, making the total length of the bridge more than 7.5 km. He described the bridge as “very lucky and very challenging.” The lucky part was that the construction cost was lower than expected, and the challenging part was the challenge of designing it using the latest technology at that time. The bridge portion of the project cost about 70 billion yen, but the cost was surprisingly low for a bridge of such importance connecting the airport and the land, according to civil engineering officials. He explained that one of the reasons for this was that while the seafloor was covered with soft ground, there was one place where a rocky hill rose up like a phalacrocuda, and the heavy arch bridge could be built there. Normally, when building a bridge on soft ground, it would cost an enormous amount of money to build a solid foundation, but the discovery of this rocky hill was very fortunate, he said. He explained that the design of the bridge, where the height of the arches is restrained given the size of the bridge, is related to the Chikki Castle Air Base of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, which is located a short distance away. The current design was adopted because fighter jets sometimes need to fly low immediately after takeoff in order to evade detection, and if the arch bridge were made higher, it would be caught in airspace restrictions. He emphasized that the bridge should have been a suspension bridge with large towers built at both ends, but the result of the search and challenge amidst various restrictions was an amazing liaison bridge that combined the most advanced technology of the time.
The captain of a current flight introduced some of the hidden hardships on board and the differences between Japan and other countries. After enjoying the bridge, we headed for the departure lobby of Kitakyushu Airport. The last flight departs at 9:10 p.m., so the lobby was reserved for a talk show by a current captain. Mr. Hiroshi Masuda, who has been flying for more than 20 years, took the microphone this time. He has been in charge of international flights on Boeing 747s and 777s for many years, and this year he started domestic flights on 737s. He excited the audience with his light-hearted talk about his hardships as an international pilot and the differences between Japan and other countries. Captain Masuda also shared some episodes from his long career as an international pilot, including a three-year stint on secondment to Korean Air. He said that he was very tense on many of the flights to the Middle East. He said that he was nervous when he had to ask permission from the air force in charge of air traffic control over Iran, but was always yelled at when he had to report after the fact due to poor communication quality on the other side, and when he was assigned to Israel, a Christian holy land, at a time when air strikes were being conducted (the flight was eventually canceled just before departure). Mr. Masuda also said that when he was below 10,000 feet over Korea, he could smell the faint scent of kimchi, which made him realize that he had returned to Korea. He said that other countries, such as Hawaii and Los Angeles, also have smells that are unique to those places. Although this may seem surprising in the Corona Disaster, he said that international pilots were very busy. Many flights were cancelled due to the inability to gather crews, and air transportation grew significantly in their stead. He said it was an unprecedented experience to be flying passenger planes as transports so frequently with the cabins in total darkness. One of the things that surprised him when he changed his responsibilities from international to domestic flights was that approaching and landing at airports was more difficult than overseas. He explained that most overseas airports are located on flat land by the sea and have flat runways, but Japanese airports have sloped runways, such as Matsuyama Airport, or are located in the mountains, such as Hiroshima Airport, so it is necessary to pay attention to the unique winds. However, he also informed the audience that Japan is superior in terms of runway surface conditions and facilities.
Origami Airplane Workshop in the Departure Lobby After the talk show, an origami airplane workshop was held under JAL’s “Soraiku” (Sky Education) program, an event that allows visitors to learn about the joy of flying through origami airplanes. The instructor for this event was Masaaki Tsuda, who holds the title of chief instructor. I was told that there are only three chief instructors in JAL, and that they are very special. Incidentally, there are about 12 regular instructors and 2,000 associate instructors. Using JAL’s special origami paper, the participants were enjoying assembling their own origami airplanes. The key to making origami airplanes is to avoid touching the paper unnecessarily and to fold it gently with the tips of your fingers, not the tips of your toes. Since the event was held at night, fluorescent tape was also provided to make the airplane float in the dark. After a series of test flights, the participants seemed to be enjoying themselves as they flew their paper planes from the third floor to the departure lobby on the second floor.
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