Ah, so now we know why we have such a young pilot in this series, despite the real pilots being World War II vets. They pulled off a convincing explanation that fit in with the spirit of the times.
Some stunning CGI work, except when it came to the physics of large objects with a great deal of mass and their movement in real life. That Hong Kong flyover and landing was just poorly done.
I shouldn’t be too hard on this series for seeming like a play-time version of the 1960s. They’ve been more true to it than a series like, say, Crime Story ever was.
I’m still charmed.
Previously here:
TV: Pan Am, Episode Three
TV: Pan Am, Episode Two
TV: Pan Am, Episode One
Mike Cane’s xBlog 
I have to disagree with you on the quality of special effects. I thought they were below average, much like the special effects in other current American shows. Even the CGI in Ocean Girl were more convincing than this (and that was seventeen years ago).
Before you’re too dismissive about the HKG landing scene, please read this article:
http://articles.latimes.com/1993-11-05/news/mn-53518_1_hong-kong-airport
The China Airlines 747-400 in question was almost brand new, this was pure pilot error:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Airlines_Flight_605
“The investigation indicated that the accident was caused by the Captain’s failure to initiate the mandatory missed approach procedure when he observed the severe airspeed fluctuations, combined with the wind shear and glide slope deviation alerts.”
That old Kai Tak Runway 13 checkerboard approach was a bitch in bad weather and it’s possible the TV show’s writers had that incident in mind when they wrote this episode.