Ultralight tour plane Business in penghu or scenic places

Business Money
1

I have an ultralight airplane license with the faa thats internationally reconized

i use to do tour flights in hawaii on weekends when my friends company was fully booked
in hawaii the rate is 200usd per hour and his company was always busy on the weekends
i would fly with a tourist as a hobby and make 800usd for 4 hours of work not bad
I can take off and land on a grass field, on a big enough beach, or on the water
so an airport is not important its a very small open cockpit 2 seater craft
I dont see anyone doing this in taiwan the plane has a 600 mile range so flights
to many islands near taiwan is possible and if anyone wants to put up the small investment
my fiance’s family runs a tour ageny in tw so business and customers should be easy to get
the price for a plane like this is about 30-5000usd or about 1-1.8 million nt however
in a fully booked month flying only 5 hours a day 7 days a week at 200usd an hour one could
make back his investment the first month thats 30000usd a month or 1 million nt a month
the plane runs on regular fuel and maintenance is super cheap in these kinds of airplanes
also side money can be made with inboard pictures of the customers flight and also video
the customer gets to try steering the wing with extension bars to get a unforgettable feeling of
flying this is a business that catches on and after a few customers people tell people and pretty soon
your booked for the next 2-3 months looking for an extra on call pilot and considering buying another plane
I fly during the first 5 hours of day when the winds are the most calm i think taiwan has some beautiful
places to fly over including penghu and the east mountain range of mainland taiwan

im looking for a silent partner investor who can buy and put a plane in his name
this is really no risk since you have a plane you can resell if need to be
im only asking for 50% of the per hour flight time rate so really im doing all the work
I can also help out with the maintenance and getting local customers

anyone interested please pm me

Ryan Kincade
msncaps.fool.com/player/uncleargenius.aspx

2

Make sure you check out the regulations regarding private plane ownership and flight rights in Taiwan first: they are minimal and restrictive.

Also, the first time you crash, with or without passenger on board, you’ll be totally fucked business-wise.

see

eaa.org/lightplaneworld/arti … taiwan.asp

taiwanreview.nat.gov.tw/ct.asp?x … =1337&mp=1

3

on a side note most people think about crashing when taking up to the air in these kinds of planes

honestly i was scared my first flight aswell but now after understanding the safety backups this kind of plane has versus a jet

well im much more scared taking a commercial flight and there are 2 reasons why…

  1. this kind of plane can fly and land with the engine off in a jet thats impossible

  2. this kind of plane has a parachute so should the whole wing break, the engine die it has a brs (ballastic rocket side shot opening) attached to

the entire airframe of the plane no need to jump out of the plane because the whole plane will parachute down to a safe landing

so to this day im still very scared to go in a jet knowing that i cant parachute out of a jet and if the wing breaks on a jet

or the engine dies more then likely everyone will die

the only way to crash this kind of plane would be taking off under high wind conditions wich id never do

and catching a huge thermal in less then 100 feet and not enough altitude for the planes parachute to open

and lastly theres my ass i never want to crash and knock on wood 500 hours of flight time never came close

4

Not sure how these planes handle in high winds, but that’s what Penghu is famous for.

Last time I was there, they had a windsurfing competition canceled because the wind was just too much.

Riding a motorcycle became a challenge due to strong winds.

5

thats good to know thanks for the info zender im wondering if the high winds are seasonal, from what i understand the summer storms are the worst?

im sure after more travelling around i can find a low wind area in taiwan for each month of the year to safely fly in

although flight in these planes with winds is possible its not enjoyable or safe i wouldnt try it

im also happy to hear penghu has high winds because i love KITE BOARDING! yeah! no waves needed! haha

6

I want to say that the high winds in Penghu are October thru March.

Of course, the highest winds would be during typhoons (July to September?), but you can see them coming for days in advance.

Please, correct me if I’m wrong.

7

Good advice urodacus. I can see getting flight rights being the biggest hurdle~

8

There’s a place called Dapeng Bay (I think that’s the spelling) in Tainan that does touristy little flights. It’s starting now in Taiwan. There are people who operate paragliding flights in Keelung and Nantou too. So it might be possible to do something like this but I can tell you I won’t go up in the plane myself here!

9

The first step would be to contact the local aviation authorities and get a local license.

Off the top of my head, you will need your license to be validated for local operation. That’s the very least. More likely, you will need a local license. The FAA has no jurisdiction here.

I doubt you’ll be able to operate a foreign-registered aircraft domestically in Taiwan, especially for commercial purposes. You will probably need local registration, and if aviation is anything like sailing then you’ll need to be a Taiwanese citizen to register the aircraft. I just checked wikipedia, and ultralight aircraft are unregistered in the USA, but tightly controlled in other countries. What is the legal situation in Taiwan?

Will a US insurer provide cover for a US ultralight to operate commercially in an unrecognised state like Taiwan? I doubt it. I couldn’t get insurance cover for a small boat here a few years ago. Locally-registered boats were legally required to be locally insured, and that was difficult too as at that time there was no legal category for sailing boats - no insurance available.

Assuming you can get an aircraft legally into the country (I believe this has been done before, ask Dangermouse), and operate it commercially on your license, and insure it to the satisfaction of an investor, and have a safe place to keep it and operate from, your only other issue will be your work permit. I guess you’ll be able to get round that as you’ll be classed as a specially skilled person.

As for the business case, Taiwanese are very risk-averse but have poor risk-assessment skills. If it looks unsafe then nobody will do it, no matter how hard you push. If they think it’s safe then they’ll do it with complete disregard for common sense precautions. There’s a growing market for adventure tourism, if the price is right.

I think, if you can get round the legal stuff, that there’s a market here. You could make a fortune.

10

I know nothing about the business, but I am curious to know more. Sounds fun but I am wondering if it is possible to get Taiwanese licenses for this. Would love to see a business plan or at least have a chat about it.

11

Loretta,
Is this the kind of venture that the speaker at the next entrepeneur club meeting could help with?

12

This sounds like the sort of completely mad ass hairbrained scheme I might be interested in. I’m up for a chat over lunch.

13

Sounds like something that will be very difficult to get off the ground.

Boom! Boom!

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Didn’t John Denver die in an ultra light singing: ‘I am an eagle I live in high country,’ before running out of gas.

14

[quote=“asiababy”]Loretta,
Is this the kind of venture that the speaker at the next entrepeneur club meeting could help with?[/quote]
He’s more specifically interested in software, the web, etc., but he might have suggestions. Once you start talking about airborne webcams and stuff, it’s amazing how people say “oooh, I might be able to help”

He’s also well-connected with other people who might be able to help.

15

[quote=“Loretta”][quote=“asiababy”]Loretta,
Is this the kind of venture that the speaker at the next entrepeneur club meeting could help with?[/quote]
He’s more specifically interested in software, the web, etc., but he might have suggestions. Once you start talking about airborne webcams and stuff, it’s amazing how people say “oooh, I might be able to help”

He’s also well-connected with other people who might be able to help.[/quote]

I want to fly an ultralight with airbourne webcams or any kind of camera. I don’t think you are going to get that past the authorities. I don’t know of course, but it sounds like something they’d bang on the head pretty fast. When I first came to Taiwan you couldn’t take photos at the airport, you still can’t around military bases as far as I know or of any presidential motorcade. Things might have changed, but I doubt it.

16

I saw one of those once. It was in the air.

17

This might be a good opportunity to post my UFO photos again. I don’t know why, but possible Dr. McCoy you were seeing probes from the Starship Enterprise.

18

Im interested in the next entrepreneur meeting in the month of February. The light sport aircraft I fly in Hawaii are airborne 2 seater trikes manufactured in Australia

the wings are tested by the FAA up to 6gs of force which is now mandatory for all s-lsa manufacturers to sell a legal N numbered s-lsa plane (sport-light sport airplane)

s-lsa is a new class of planes and pilot licenses starting in 2009 with the FAA and is really just a fancy name for an ultralight over 503lbs

when ultralights first came out way back in the 60s or 70s not really sure when but anyway the quality wasn’t regulated and Ive even heard stories of some kits

have pvc pipes supporting nylon wings (how crazy is that?) So in the beginning of ultralight flights and kits there where many crashes resulting in ultralights

getting a bad rap and also in those days there was no brs safety chutes incase your wings break and some older designs didn’t have good glide ratios making landing

with the engine off hard or impossible but today I land almost everytime with my engine off at a slow quiet glide. Another cool plane worth researching is the

Icon A5. All airborne trikes can be equipped with amphibious floats or atv style tires making landing on ruff dirt roads, grass fields, or smooth sandy beaches possible.

I would stay away from airports in almost any country running this as a business because you run into airport runway usage fee, gotta communicate with the flight tower,

and have to pay hanger fees at the airport all hurting your profit ratio and calling to the flight tower 100 times a day is annoying. Any football sized grass field will do.

This ultralight thing is just one of my ideas, I have much bigger ideas capable of making much more money which i can discuss at the next entrepreneur meeting.

One of those ideas being a world record electric boat capable of going around the world without gas or sails using solar panels and vertical wind turbines this is a huge

market appealing to luxy yaghts, shipping companys, fishing companys, ferry services. Curruntly my idea with photos is listed on Toyotas website and you can have a look

at it here yourideasforgood.com/gallery?idea=1989 Before i got into business I was an electronic engineer so I blueprinted this boat 2 years ago and still no

all electric boat has gone around the world without stopping, the closest was the transatlantic 21 going from europe to new york. Lastly im an artist making stained glass

panels and fused glass pieces and hoping to open a small art gallery in Taipei. I can do custom pieces if your interested pm me Right now im working on a circular BMW

logo clock for a beamer lover. Hopefully i stirred up some interest to be invited to the next super exclusive entrepreneur meeting LoL J/k

19

Regardless of how safe you think the machine is, how well trained you are, how many flying hours you have, how international your licence is, etc etc, it does not amount to a hill of beansif the authorities in Taiwan look at you and your 503 lb plane and say " No F’ing way are we going to give a licence to a bignose".

Which is entirely possible.

So do your research carefully, and assume that the chances of being approved are slim to bugger all. Then, if you do manage to get a licence, it is a big bonus! Of course, once you start accepting paying customers, then you’d need an established business, a working visa, insurance, an accountant, etc. All of these are possible but not at all easy to get.

I am not trying to crush your dreams here, just allow you to set some reasonable expectations. Best of luck!

20

Thailand and fiji are the best places in the world for a tour plane flight business

but in thailand if you dont pay (or if they think your not paying) 80% of your profits to police or mafia then they kill you

so that option ruled out fiji? not sure never been could be promising

the reasons these are the best spots are smooth as glass oceans with so many islands to visit