Taiwan

Piloting US Army aircraft on Taiwan in 1967 was a challenge. The weather was usually bad so flying was normally on instruments with a flight plan. I was on duty as an aircraft maintenance advisor to Chang Kai Shek’s Army. I was also maintenance officer for our small flight detachment which had several airplanes and helicopters for flying around the Island and to Hong Kong and Okinawa.

On one flight, I was returning to Taipei above the clouds without an instrument flight plan. The airfield was socked-in and I held flying in a pattern over the PO beacon while requesting clearance from ATC to make a standard landing. No answer. I flew a triangular patten which was the standard procedure signaling lost communication, but still no answer. Since My fuel was getting low, I decided to fly out over the nearby ocean and let down below the clouds. Breaking out about two thousand feet above the water I was able to fly toward the airport VFR. I was familiar with the terrain and flew up a river gorge that went close to the airport.

About five miles out, I thought I would try to call the tower operator and got an immediate reply. I said I was five miles west requesting VFR landing that was immediately approved. After a standard landing, I never heard from ATC about their failure to answer my calls. I suspect the controller was either having a snooze, refused to answer a pilot that did not speak Taiwanese, or was punishing the pilot for not filing an instrument flight plan sooner. All of these were known to have happened. To preserve diplomatic relations, I did not pursue the issue, so still don’t know.