It looked like a very dangerous airport with pilots having to fly close to mountains and high-rise buildings and making a sharp almost right angle turn to line with the runway manually.
Why were there so few accidents and crashes? Why didn't more planes crash into the skyscrapers like on 9/11?
potatochip
There were definitely some white-knuckle landings because not only did one have to deal with the mountains, there sometimes strong cross-breezes. If you watch on YouTube some of the approaches into Kai Tak, you will wonder how there were so few incidents of the plane's wing or engine smacking the runway. But because the approach was challenging, pilots were trained really well and they were really careful on their approach. They also took their job really seriously flying into Kai Tak because they knew the consequences if they made a mistake.
bluebellbkk
Because pilots knew that it was a particularly difficult approach, and paid very close attention. Nobody dozed in the cockpit while flying over the buildings with people's laundry hanging out on the roofs. Then the sharp right angled turn down over the chequerboard and head for the harbour ... thrilling.
Just by the way, these were not 'skyscrapers' as we understand the word nowadays. Most of them were no more than say 20 storeys high.
Also just by the way, I remember as a child of 6 or 7 being held up in traffic while blasting was carried out to improve the airport after the war.
Skyseeker1
Good Question
IMO it was because the prospect of certain and immediate death was visually obvious during the visual approach.
Unlike the complacency of the human mind that is focused on flight instrument interpretation in IMC where the close proximity to that same certain death is visually obscured.
Anonymous
Because pilots were far more involved in the approach.
It wasn’t an approach you could couple to an autopilot and disconnect at 79 feet before touchdown all stabilized.
You needed to hand fly a precise visual maneuver to a successful landing.
Zack
Pilots needed special training to land at that airport; that definitely helped pilots land safely.
In addition to the special training, airline pilots are very experienced.