Our Flight permissions for Taiwan are valid only for 24 hours. Promptly we must shift the takeoff for exactly about this time span. We included some extra reserve days for the weather in the ITCZ. However, they are eaten now.

Taiwan has covered itself under a thick cloud layer. The approach to Taiwan Toayuan International Airport in the rain is without any problems. It is an extreme busy airport – however we get a first class service by ATC. Finally, in Taipeh we are glad to be on schedule again.

The visit of “101”, the second-highest building in the world (508 meters, 101 floors), is an absolute must in Taipeh. Beside the magnificent view from the top it is the amazing rapid lift with the fastest elevator of the world (1010 metres / minutes) that fascinates. It only takes a little more than 30 seconds for 101 floors. The ball in the midst of the building, which is the oscillation damper for possible earthquakes, we had expected to be much bigger.

Besides Langshan temple and the night markets in Taipeh we can also admire the really impressive cultural treasures from the Forbidden City, Peking. Since the confusions of the civil war they have found a place in the Palace Museum of Taipeh.

We got stuck the first time entirely!

Now that we have almost passed the ITCZ – we next face the Raining Season of Japan. One could think of a European autumn rain with stratus clouds and lasting land rain. This weather phenomenon which is to be found primarily in June / July in this region presents itself completely differently: embedded thunderstorms with considerable expansion and tops at the FL 450, strong rainfall (up to 100 mm / hour), icing in the cloud layers and ceilings which often are far below the decision height for an flight IFR. Though our airplane is designed for instrument flights, it clearly has its limits. And they by far cannot compete with those of airliners. Therefore, our decision is: wait.

Though the weather information for Taiwan and Japan is really comprehensive – the weather itself remains as it is. Also the friendly ongoing consultation of the DWD team in Hamburg cannot change anything about the continuous bad weather situation. A so-called occlusion stretches like an elastic band from Shanghai to the south of Japan and extends to the Pacific. It is keeps steadily supplied with new heat energy from the Chinese mainland. Therefore, also the outlook remains bad. And it is especially bitter that the weather effecting us is to be found on the last 1.5 hours flight time of in total approx. 5.5-hour. The long distance makes the planning even more challenging. During the planned flying time the weather continuously changes – dependable, long-term forecasts cannot be given for this time span. On the other hand we are not allowed to land on one of the Japanese Islands in between, because of our permits that have been issued.