Government Flying Service
Government Flying Service insignia
Agency overview
Formed1 April 1993 (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

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

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]

In 2007, the former dispersal terminal in the old Kai Tak Airport was re-opened as a sub-base, providing refuelling and other supporting services for GFS's helicopters, with a helipad located near the foot of Cheung Yip Street.

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.[5] 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.[6]

Operations

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.

Current inventory

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

Equipment and gear

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

Standard equipment for GFS personnel is:

Personnel

GFS employs 335 personnel:[8]

  • 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

Operations uniforms:

Dress uniforms:[13]

  • 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

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 Officer cadet
Government Flying Service[14][15][16][17]
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

List of past controllers of the GFS:

Crest

The current crest of the force was adopted in 1997, prior to which the Hong Kong Coat of Arms was used on GFS aircraft:

  • Bauhinia
  • Crest with a Chinese dragon, propeller (borrowed from the Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force crest) and wording GFS
  • Motto contain the wording "政府飛行服務隊" with a pair of wings provides a bilingual logo to the agency that was lacking in the previous agency

GFS in the media

  • 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

  • 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.[19] The Helicopter was rebuilt by the engineering team after it was recovered from the reservoir.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Government Budget Head 166" (PDF). Government of Hong Kong.
  2. ↑ "Contact". Government Flying Service. Retrieved 8 October 2020. Government Flying Service 18 South Perimeter Road Hong Kong International Airport Lantau Hong Kong
  3. 1 2 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. ↑ 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.
  6. ↑ "Commerce Department Will Publish the First Military End User List Naming More Than 100 Chinese and Russian Companies". U.S. Department of Commerce.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Government Flying Service". gfs.gov.hk. 2021. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  8. ↑ "About GFS". Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  9. ↑ "Pilot Grade". Government Flying Service. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
  10. ↑ "Air Crewman Officer Grade". Government Flying Service. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
  11. ↑ "Aircraft Engineer Grade". Government Flying Service. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
  12. ↑ "Aircraft Technician Grade". Government Flying Service. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
  13. ↑ "Uniform". Government Flying Service. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
  14. ↑ "Government Flying Service - Insignia".
  15. ↑ "Government Flying Service - Air Crewman Officer Grade".
  16. ↑ "Government Flying Service - Aircraft Engineer Grade".
  17. ↑ "Government Flying Service - Aircraft Technician Grade".
  18. ↑ "Happy landings".
  19. ↑ Chief Inspector of Accidents. Accident Investigation Division. (9 February 2012). "Accident bulletin 1/2012" (PDF). Retrieved 5 June 2017.
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