Runway Change, Long Stakeout

The original plan: Huaqiangbei electronics market in the morning, cross to Hong Kong in the afternoon.

Flightradar24 rewrote that plan at breakfast: an Air China 747-400 (B-2447) was inbound to Shenzhen. Only a handful of passenger 744s are still flying in China, and one showing up at Shenzhen is genuinely rare. Huaqiangbei — cancelled. I stayed at the window.

Then the runway changed direction. My carefully calculated landing shot evaporated — missed it completely.

Two options: accept it and head out as planned, or stay put and keep waiting. I chose the stakeout.

In the end, the same window delivered: B-2447 departing, bound nonstop for Beijing. I’m happy with the frame.

The prediction put me in the right place, but what actually saved the catch was the decision to stay. Planning gets you on scene; stubbornness gets you the shot.

In the afternoon I crossed the border and checked in at Discovery Bay. Tomorrow: Hong Kong International — where another lesson was waiting.