Checkerboard Hill

Checkerboard Hill, also known as Kowloon Tsai Hill and Tak Mee Mountain , is a small hill in the northern part of the Kowloon peninsula in Hong Kong. Standing at 98 m tall, Checkerboard Hill is located next to Kowloon Tsai Park and the Lok Fu Service Reservoir Rest Garden of Lok Fu Park, and it is not far from Lion Rock Country Park.

Name
The hill's name dates back to the time when airline pilots had to navigate towards this hill in order to land on Runway 13 of the now-closed Kai Tak Airport. Pilots would set their onboard navigation systems to fly the Instrument Guidance System (IGS) path straight towards a large red and white checkerboard on the side of the hill, then once the checkerboard pattern was sighted and identified, they would make a low-altitude right-hand turn to align visually with Runway 13.

Kai Tak Airport was demanding for pilots, and it required special training, since the approach to runway 13 could not be flown entirely by instrument, but required instead to aim towards a fixed obstacle, and then break away visually to land on its right.

Closure of Kai Tak and checkerboard restoration


Following the decommissioning of Kai Tak and the opening of Chek Lap Kok International Airport, the hill and the checkerboard became abandoned, wherein the latter became faded and overgrown with new trees. The checkerboard was not restored probably because it may confuse pilots landing at Chek Lap Kok, since the Kai Tak Runway 13 approach also involved flying over Lantau Island.

During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, from 2020 to 2021, restoration work was carried out on both the west and south sides of Checkerboard Hill. The checkerboard pattern was repainted to its original colors and now acts as a monument to Kai Tak Airport.