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Government Flying Service

From Wikipedia - Reading time: 13 min
For the Slovak state carrier, see Slovak Government Flying Service.

Government Flying Service

GFS head office
Agency overview
Formed1 April 1993; 31 years ago (1993-04-01)
Preceding agency
Jurisdiction Hong Kong
HeadquartersHong Kong International Airport
Motto
  • Semper Paratus
  • Always ready
Employees335
Annual budgetHKD 577.6 million (2016-17)[1]
Minister responsible
Agency executive
  • Captain West WU, Controller
Parent departmentSecurity Bureau
Websitewww.gfs.gov.hk
Government Flying Service
Traditional Chinese香港政府飛行服務隊
Simplified Chinese香港政府飞行服务队
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinXianggang Zhèngfǔ Fēixíng Fúwù Duì
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationHeung Gong Jing fú fēi hàahng fuhk mouh deuih
JyutpingZing3 fu2 fei1 haang4 fuk6 mou6 deoi6

The Hong Kong Government Flying Service (HKGFS) is a disciplined unit and paramilitary flying organisation of the Government of Hong Kong.

The service has its head office in, and operates from, the southwestern end of Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok.[2] Before the opening of the Chek Lap Kok airport in 1998, it operated from the old Kai Tak Airport, the former Hong Kong International Airport. GFS patrols as far as 700-nautical-mile (1,300 km) to the south, to include the Hong Kong Flight Information Region and the Hong Kong Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre area of responsibility, which covers most of the South China Sea basin.

History

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The Government Flying Service was established on 1 April 1993, when Hong Kong was under British rule.[3] It then took over all the non-military operations of the Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force (RHKAAF), which was an auxiliary unit of the United Kingdom Royal Air Force. After Hong Kong was handed over to the People's Republic of China in 1997, the GFS remained as a government unit of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and is responsible for search and rescue (SAR), air ambulance, firefighting, and police operations.[4]

Starting in 2012, the GFS operates from the HKCEC heliport, adjacent to Golden Bauhinia Square.[5] The site is also open to commercial traffic.[6]

In August 2020, a GFS Bombardier Challenger 605 maritime patrol aircraft was believed to have assisted Chinese authorities in intercepting 12 Hong Kongers who were attempting to flee to Taiwan due to increasingly onerous conditions in Hong Kong and enhanced exit controls. The Hong Kong government denied that they had cooperated with Chinese authorities.[7] On December 21, 2020, the United States Bureau of Industry and Security amended the Export Administration Regulations by adding a new ‘Military End User' (MEU) List, as well as the first tranche of 103 entities, which includes 58 Chinese and 45 Russian companies. Government Flying Service was added as one of 103 entities to the MEU List.[8]

In 2022, a new site at the southernmost corner of the former Kai Tak airport was opened, featuring one landing/takeoff pad, two parking pads, one repair hangar for the new Airbus H175 helicopter and an operations/office building.[9] The site had been earmarked since 2007 and planning permission was given in 2017 as part of the area's redevelopment,[10][11] as well as limitations of new high rise buildings in the Tung Chung area near the existing base affecting marginal weather operations. The possibility of opening the base to commercial cross-boundary traffic has been raised since 2011.[12]

Operations

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GFS consists of five divisions:

  • Operations Division – all emergency response and operational matters (i.e. search and rescue)
  • Training and Standards Division – professional standards and development
  • Corporate Safety Division - safety-related initiatives and cross-section safety management matters
  • Engineering Division – maintenance of GFS aircraft and ground-support equipment in accordance with the Civil Aviation Department standards
  • Administration Division – general administration, personnel support services

Helicopters can land on five highways in Hong Kong to attend to road related recovery operations. For long-range search and rescue operations, the GFS initially use fixed wing aircraft which then guide helicopters to the location.[3]

  • Air ambulance service response time (type A+/A) – 20 minutes (within island zone) / 30 minutes (outside island zone)
  • Search and rescue callout time 0700-2159 -(within 50 nm/92.5 km of GFS HQ) – 1hr / 1hr 40m (with additional/specialized equipment)
  • Search and rescue callout time 2200-0659 -(within 50 nm/92.5 km of GFS HQ) – 2hr
  • For SARs outside 50 nm / 92.5 km – add 30mins per 50 nm
  • Fixed Winged Aircraft 0700-2159 – (within 50 nm/92.5 km of GFS)- 50m, (between 50 nm/92.5 km to 100 nm/185 km of GFS)- 1hr 5m, (beyond 100 nm/185 km of GFS)- add 15m per 50 nm.

The GFS operates primarily from Chek Lap Kok airport, where headquarters and all fixed wing aviation is based. Some helicopters are based in the Kai Tak division and a helipad is available in Wan Chai next to the HKCEC.

Current inventory

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A GFS Eurocopter EC155 in flight
Aircraft Origin Type Variant In service Notes
Transport
Bombardier Challenger 600 Canada surveillance / SAR CL-605 2[13]
Diamond DA42 Austria surveillance / patrol DA42 NG 1[13]
Helicopters
Airbus H175 France SAR / utility 7[13]
Eurocopter EC155 France / Germany SAR / air ambulance 4[13]
Eurocopter AS332 France / Germany SAR / fire suppressor 3[13]
Trainer aircraft
Zlín Z 42 Czech Republic basic trainer 1[13]

Equipment and gear

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A GFS Super Puma landing on the deck of the USS Mobile Bay, April 2006

Standard equipment for GFS personnel is:

Personnel

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GFS employs 335 personnel:[14]

  • 235 commissioned/disciplined personnel
  • 100 civilian personnel

Most of the pilots in the GFS were localised prior to the handover in 1997, as former RAF and other British military personnel departed Hong Kong.

The GFS is led by a Controller, who reports to the Secretary for Security. The current Controller is Captain West WH WU.

Other senior officers of the GFS are:

  • Departmental Secretary
  • Chief Pilot (Operations)
  • Chief Pilot (Training and Standards)
  • Chief Pilot (Corporate Safety)
  • Chief Aircraft Engineer

Uniform

[edit]

Operations uniforms:

Dress uniforms:[19]

  • light blue shirt (short sleeve for summer and long sleeve for winter) with dark tie dress jacket and pants
  • dark skirts for women
  • sweaters for men
  • dark windbreaker jacket for summer
  • Peaked cap - male and female variations

Rank

[edit]

Prior to the creation of the GFS, the ranks within the Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force were the same as the RAF. The late 1980s and early 1990s saw the transition to local staff in the RHKAAF in preparation for the civil transfer to the GFS role.

Ranking of personnel of the GFS are civilian aviation roles and are as follows:

Rank group General / flag officers Senior officers Junior officers
Government Flying Service[20]
Controller Chief Pilot
Chief Aircraft Engineer 		Senior Pilot
Senior Aircraft Engineer
Senior Aircrewman Officer 		Pilot I
Aircraft Engineer
Aircrewman Officer I 		Pilot I
Aircraft Engineer
Aircrewman Officer I 		Pilot II
Aircraft Engineer
Aircrewman Officer II
Chief Aircraft Technician 		Pilot II
Chief Aircraft Technician
Senior Aircraft Technician
Aircrewman Officer III 		Cadet Pilot
Senior Aircraft Technician
Aircraft Technician
Aircrewman Officer III

Pilot II and Cadet Pilot ranks were created in the 1990s for local pilots with less flying experience.

Controllers

[edit]

List of past controllers of the GFS:

Crest

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The current crest of the force was adopted in 1997, prior to which the Hong Kong Coat of Arms was used on GFS aircraft. The current is topped with the Hong Kong Bauhinia flower. In the centre of the crest is a navy blue (sometimes purple) and light blue roundel background. In the middle of the crest is a four bladed propeller, and a Chinese dragon in the front (similar to the RHKAAF crest). Along the bottom of the roundel are the letters GFS representing the english name of the service. Underneath the roundel are a pair of wings joined by a ribbon with the Chinese characters "政府飛行服務隊", the Chinese name of the service.

GFS in the media

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  • The service's official theme song, Wishing You Well So Much (多想你好), was sung by Andy Lau in 2003.
  • The TVB drama "Always Ready" was filmed inside GFS HQ in 2005 and starred Ekin Cheng.

Incidents

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  • 26 August 2003 – A Eurocopter EC 155 B1 crashed on a hill at Pak Kung Au near Tung Chung on Lantau Island killing two aircrew (Pilot Pang Fu-kwok and Airman Chan Man-tik).
  • 27 December 2010 – One of the GFS's Eurocopter Super Puma Mk II helicopters (B-HRN) ditched in Shing Mun Reservoir after the loss of its number 2 engine. It was in the process of collecting water from the reservoir to drop on a hill fire. None of the three crew members were injured. The Civil Aviation Department said on the following day it had retrieved the flight data recorder. Pending a final report, an interim bulletin issued in February 2012 reported that the number 2 engine was correctly shut down automatically by the engine control unit because the turbine had begun to overspeed, because there appeared to be no fault in the turbine or the fuel systems the overspeed was possibly the result of a disconnection of the engine from the main gearbox because of wear to the freewheel unit that connected the two.[22] The Helicopter was rebuilt by the engineering team after it was recovered from the reservoir.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Government Budget Head 166" (PDF). Government of Hong Kong.
  2. ^ "Contact". Government Flying Service. Archived from the original on 19 September 2020. Retrieved 8 October 2020. Government Flying Service 18 South Perimeter Road Hong Kong International Airport Lantau Hong Kong
  3. ^ a b Information Services Department. Government Flying Service (March 2016). "Government Flying Service" (PDF). Government of Hong Kong. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
  4. ^ "US blacklists Hong Kong's Gov't Flying Service, citing human rights abuses and national security concerns". 22 December 2020.
  5. ^ "Government Flying Service - News - The HKCEC Heliport will be put into service starting from 28 May 2012 2012-05-28". www.gfs.gov.hk. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
  6. ^ "Civil Aviation Department - Heliports and Helicopter Services". www.cad.gov.hk. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
  7. ^ Griffiths, James; Cheung, Eric. "Hong Kong government accused of colluding with China to surveil and catch fugitives fleeing for Taiwan". www.cnn.com. CNN. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  8. ^ "Commerce Department Will Publish the First Military End User List Naming More Than 100 Chinese and Russian Companies". U.S. Department of Commerce.
  9. ^ Mak, George; Lo, Jeffrey; Lam, Rom (1 February 2023). "Delivering a new helicopter base at Kai Tak for the Hong Kong Government Flying Service". Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Civil Engineering. 176 (1): 33–39. doi:10.1680/jcien.22.00117. ISSN 0965-089X.
  10. ^ Task Force on Kai Tak Harbourfront Development, Harbourfront Commission (5 April 2017). "Amendments Incorporated in the Draft Kai Tak Outline Zoning Plan No. S/K22/5" (PDF). Harbourfront Commission. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
  11. ^ Harbourfront Commission; Ove Arup; Civil Engineering and Development Department (8 April 2017). "Proposed Establishment of Government Flying Service Kai Tak Division" (PDF). Harbourfront Commission. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
  12. ^ Task Force on Kai Tak Harbourfront Development, Harbourfront Commission (3 August 2011). "Cross-boundary Heliport in the Kai Tak Development Area" (PDF). Harbourfront Commission. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
  13. ^ a b c d e f "Government Flying Service". gfs.gov.hk. 2021. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  14. ^ "About GFS". Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  15. ^ "Pilot Grade". Government Flying Service. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
  16. ^ "Air Crewman Officer Grade". Government Flying Service. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
  17. ^ "Aircraft Engineer Grade". Government Flying Service. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
  18. ^ "Aircraft Technician Grade". Government Flying Service. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
  19. ^ "Uniform". Government Flying Service. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
  20. ^
  21. ^ "Happy landings".
  22. ^ Chief Inspector of Accidents. Accident Investigation Division. (9 February 2012). "Accident bulletin 1/2012" (PDF). Retrieved 5 June 2017.
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