Hi, I will move to taiwan, well normally, and I got a PPL IFR FAA License (Private Pilot License)
So:
Can I fly in Taiwan with my FAA ? What about the IFR?
Is there any flying Club or School in Taiwan?
Where can I rent a C172R or PA28 like plane? And Cost?
thank in advance
[quote=âAlex_Flyingmanâ]Hi, I will move to Taiwan, well normally, and I got a PPL IFR FAA License (Private Pilot License)
So:
can I fly in Taiwan with my FAA ? What about the IFR?
Is there any flying Club or School in Taiwan?
Where can I rent a C172R or PA28 like plane? And Cost?
thank in advance[/quote]
Youâre not a fanatic militant Muslim Saudi national, are you? :shock:
Tigerman, donât you think this comment is uncalled for and a bit premature?
Why do you and âyour gangâ always need to assume the worst ⌠!? 
(And no, I donât think itâs funny - else he would have asked where he can rent a Boeing. 
)
Alex_flyingman, welcome on board. Canât help you with your questions though âŚ
Iâm somewhat of an aviation enthusiast, and I asked my pilot friends at the airline about this when I first got to Taiwan.
The unfortunate answer is that there is no private aviation in Taiwan. If you want to fly, you have to either join an airline or join the military.
[quote=âRascalâ]Tigerman, donât you think this comment is uncalled for and a bit premature?
Why do you and âyour gangâ always need to assume the worst ⌠!? âŚ[/quote]
Whereâs your sense of humor, Rascal?
Oh yeah⌠forgot⌠youâre German⌠
Arenât privately owned aircraft allowed here? Doesnât some rich guy have his own helicopter here? Or am I mistaken?
I do not know of clubs flying Cessnas here although Iâve heard about some guys flying ultra-lites somewhere down south. I guess the only other ways to get into the air are by hang gliding or para-sailing. 
I am sure you could find some flying clubs that will rent you a plane in neighboring countries like the Philippines, Malaysia, or Thailand. Japan also but very expensive.
Well, now, thatâs a bummer. Is this because the government doesnât want people to have planes lest they try to escape to the mainland (joke), or just a matter of no aviation culture having developed on the island because itâs a small place anyway and was relatively poor until recently??
Iâve noticed the banner ads for âWings Taiwanâ (I see it in someoneâs signature all the time, so Iâm guessing heâs one of the people involved). So at least thereâs paragliding available â Six-Chuters and the like. Any blimps or balloons?
Thanks guy⌠ouch⌠It will be hard for me to not fly⌠
Just one more question, what is that ?
fpeng.peopledaily.com.cn/200203/ ⌠2722.shtml
Where can I contact this school ? I didnât find anything on the web
Training school important for Taiwanâs civil aviation
Taiwan has unveiled first flying school to train civil aircraft pilots on the island, reports reaching in Hong Kong from Taipei said Sunday.
A former local aviation official was quoted as saying that Taiwan has no alternatives but to train civil aircraft pilots on the island. Taiwanâs first flying school, opened on March 14, holds the key to the future of civil aviation, the official said.
Named the Taiwan Aviation Training Center, the new flying school plans to enroll 100 students a year, who will be trained for 18 months.
All trainees receive intensive English training classes and do other studies at the China Airlines building in Taipei. Flight training will take place at Taitung in eastern Taiwan.
Most pilots are foreigners
According to the official, an unproportionately large number of foreign pilots fly Taiwanâs passenger aircraft. One fourth of an estimated 2,000 pilots working for Taiwanâs airlines are foreigners. They come from more than 30 countries with a varying quality of performance.
One third of Taiwan-born pilots are retired air force flyers. They do not feel comfortable working for commercial airlines. China Airlines and EVA Airways, two largest airline companies in Taiwan, have pilots trained abroad. The cost of training overseas is exorbitantly high, the official said.
[quote]Whereâs your sense of humor, Rascal?
Oh yeah⌠forgot⌠youâre German⌠[/quote]
Or it wasnât as funny as you thought!?
But perhaps we have just a different sense of humor. Anyhow, I thought is was a rather âstrange wayâ to welcome a new member.
From what I read in the article, it seems this is for people who want to join an airline. ICBW though. My pilot friends that work for the airlines were trained in the US, and as the article pointed out, it is expensive to the point that the airline makes you sign a 15-20 year contract that is really expensive to break. In effect, if you are trained by the airline, you have to stay for the term of the contract, because itâs high enough that the average working pilot canât afford to pay the amount for breaking the contract.
As for why private aviation isnât allowed, I would suspect that it has something to do with the perceived potential threat to national security or something to that effect.
If some rich guy has a helicopter or something, I wouldnât be too surprised, because anything is possible with enough money and knowing the right people. Or perhaps institutionalized private aviation is allowed, i.e., for a large corporation to have a helicopter that the executives fly around in. But, for the average joe, you canât get a pilots license and your own Cessna like you could, say, in the USA.
[quote=âAlex_Flyingmanâ]Just one more question, what is that ?
fpeng.peopledaily.com.cn/200203/ ⌠2722.shtml
Where can I contact this school ? I didnât find anything on the web
[/quote]
Alex, thereâs always R/C model flying. I know thatâs available in Taiwan â although the frequencies are different from in the U.S., so youâll have to get a new freq module (or a whole system, if yours doesnât have interchangeable modules).
Alex Flyingman:
Sorry to say, there is no GA in Taiwan. In the three years that I have lived here, I have not seen a single light fixed wing aircraft. I did consider bringing in a Quick-build RV8 kit at the start of my contract, not to fly it, just to build it, but it soon became clear that that would be a major event as far as the local bureaucracy was concerned. It would have been akin to importing a Boeing 737 - no difference in their eyes.
However, there is ultralight flying here, all carried out in the gray area that characterizes so much of Taiwan - strictly speaking itâs illegal, but the authorities turn a blind eye. There is an ultralight strip close to Sanshia, about 15 km out of Taipei (for locals who want to find it, itâs on the river directly opposite (south of) the red and white incinerator chimney. Keep tring the small roads until you stumble onto it).
The only private helicopter in Taiwan, a Robinson R22, is kept here. The owner imports his own avgas 100LL, flies over a mechanic from Robinson (!) to do his annuals, and had to reportedly pay big BIG bucks to import it. But none of the regulatory framework that you are used to even exists. His flying, strictly speaking is totally illegal, but enough palms have been greased for him to get away with it. He talks to no-one, lands off airports, is a one man show as far as every single aspect of his aviating is concerned. Bizarre, huh?
The guys at Sanshia say that everything is changing, and that GA will be legalized in Taiwan. I somehow doubt it - there just isnât the interest (let alone passion) for aviation, or any such activities. Most localsâ hobby seems to consist of going shopping as far as I can tell. The Taiwanese I work with seem bored out of their skulls.
To summarize, if you want to fly, it will have to be a microlight. I suggest importing your own after you get here. Sanshia has decent hangarage, and itâs on a dammed river, so that operating on floats would be the way to go in my view (they imported a set, but havenât used them so far).
So the only IFR you will be able to practice is I Follow Roads!
Good luck
Hi Alex,
Try the Skywalker Flying Club found here:
wingsoverasia.com/phplinks/index.php?&PID=16
Maybe itâs an avenueâŚ
Goodluck!
Editor
www.wingsoverasia.com
The Skywalker Flight Club seems to be based in Chung-Li City. Iâve worked in Chung-Li for 3 years, and I have never heard of any airstrip in the locality, or seen any light aircraft flying in the area. I work with many Taiwanese who live in Jungli and who know that I am a pilot. If by any chance I had missed seeing any aviation activity, they would certainly have alerted me.
The web site seems to suggest that itâs an on-line club. There are no links of any sort, just what appears to be a personal address.
A false lead Iâm sorry to say.
There are ultra lights! In fact, there used to by an ultralight airport at DaPen Bay in Pingtung County. There are flying clubs and it was really neat watching them fly over the bay. The airport has since been closed though. There also is a lot of hang gliding in the mountains.
I think you wanted to post this: First flight school in Taiwan ready to open
taipeitimes.com/News/biz/arc ⌠2003599940
[quote]APEX Flight Academy Co Ltd (ĺŽćˇéŁčŞč¨çˇ´ä¸ĺż), which has already set up its aircraft parking ground and maintenance hangar near Taitung airport, is set to open for business on Wednesday, following preparations that have taken more than a year.
The flight school, which has NT$160 million (US$5.31 million) in registered capital, is set up to train people who are interested in getting a private pilotâs license (PPL) or a commercial pilotâs license (CPL).
[/quote]
Cool. Hope they will also have some sky diving along with the flying schoolâŚ
I met with the CAA and they were very impressed that I wanted to import my aircraft. They had a dozen of their staff attend to me. They really must have a lot of time on their hands. Anyways, they said I was the first person to approach them about importing an airplane. This was in 2010. They had recently revised the laws to allow imports.
The problem for me is that my aircraft is nearly 70 years old. You can only import AND register an aircraft that is 10 years or newer. Unless your aircraft is registered in Taiwan you can only land one time. If it is registered then you can fly to any airport on the island. Another requirement is that you HOLD a Taiwan issued license. To get the license you must read and speak and understand Chinese.
You must have a parking spot for your bird. You must apply for and receive permission to fly. You have to give them like 24 hours notice of your flight plan and also have that approved or it is a no go.
Sure, there are plenty of rich Taiwan folks who own aircraft but nearly all of them donât have their birds registered here. They are based elsewhere so the only thing they can do with the bird is go to a foreign destination - not fly to another airport in Taiwan or land at the same airport they took off from. In other words, you canât go for a joy ride unless you have done everything talked about above.
Taiwan isnât a very friendly place to fly. Engine out almost anywhere and you are screwed - roads choked with traffic, mountains, rivers, and on and on. If you hang around and travel enough around taiwan you will see why this is not a good place to go for a joy ride. To be honest, I am so safety minded that I would never attempt to fly anywhere in northern Taiwan if given the opportunity.
I have not looked into it but Iâve been told by commercial pilots Iâm in a group with that the Philippines is a very GA friendly place and it was suggested I should take my bird there or just go and rent a plane there for my pleasure.
Edited - My discussion applies only to private aircraft for personal use - NOT commercial use. I never looked into the rules for commercial use but I imagine it is completely different in terms of the age of aircraft that can be imported and put into service.
