🛩 Flying - Can you fly gliders in taiwan?

like for gliding the ones that are not RC remote but where you can actually sit inside?

The terrain in Taiwan is not exactly glider friendly.

There are some paragliding sites.

Is it hang glider or motor glider?
For motor glider, you need a license.

As far as I know general aviation does not exist in Taiwan, and is practically illegal.

It was.

See lots in various areas. Not sure on te laws, but deaths arent unheard of. Be careful

I think most of you are confusing hang gliders or paragliders with gliders. Vastly different beasts. And Yes, the terrain in Taiwan is mountainous, but that often helps gliders with big updrafts. Lots of gliders in the Alps in France and Austria, for example.

glides have massive wingspan and no engine… that’s the point.

image

what does not help gliders is the ban on recreational flying: with a glider you need an airfield, and a tow plane to get you airborne. then you need free airspace, and a runway to land on (generally the same you took off from). None of these exist in Taiwan.

Not to mention the high cost of participating in the sport of soaring. Most sailplanes are built in Poland, the Czech Republic, Italy or Germany (the plane in the above photo is a moderately high performance model probably from Germany), and maintaining them is not cheap, notwithstanding the absence of a motor. Some places substitute a ground-based cable-towing system in place of the more desirable tow plane, but you still need a good grass field close to your source of lift (mountains or cliffs for ridgelift, fields or factories for hot-air thermals) for when you need to head for home quickly. They also generally operate over 1000m elevation for distance flying, unlike hang gliders and parasails, so the ROC air force probably wouldn’t like the idea of them mucking up their air space.

“you can check this out https://www.facebook.com/groups/1105328769832815/

it seems allowed now.

In Chinese

Well, there you go. And how long has that been going on?

and which airports would allow towed lifts? An interesting question. Maybe it’s a bit like the yachting rules… yes you can sail, but only within super strict guidelines, and not to any port you choose.

Yes, recreational flying, but no sailplanes yet. Ultralight flying is a good way for sport aviation to get a start in a new market. But sailplanes are a whole different consumer and sporting philosophy. As @urodacus suggests, it’s actually a lot like sailing, and there are a lot of people who do both.

As far as I know, only people as rich as Terry Guo has any chance of participating in any aviation in Taiwan.

I saw a couple of micro-lights flying around the Taoyuan coast many years back.

The Hengchun airport is virtually unused these days, and could be a cool base for gliders if allowed.