Trespassing in the mountains
Simon Eung still has a few photos in his files of what Saichia looked like then. Though this was well over a decade ago, he remembers it like it was yesterday.
At that time hang gliding had only just been introduced into Taiwan. The main location for it then was Green Bay (Feitsuiwan) on the north coast. Because the equipment was so expensive, however, it remained a sport for a wealthy few. Later, the China Youth Corps sponsored a camp by Chengching Lake. Eung, who lived in southern Taiwan, was immediately attracted by the picture of a colorful hang glider sailing through the blue sky that he had seen in an advertisement on a bus. He signed up for the camp, hoping to finally realize his dream to fly that he had ever since he was small. But when he went he was left disappointed.
It turned out that even the coach had never actually gone up, and the hang gliders there were very primitive. They were nothing like the brilliant gliders in the advertisement. There was no understanding of the basic principles of hang gliding. They were on flat ground, so it's no surprise they couldn't build up any speed running. The hang glider hung like a limp cloth, never filling up and lifting into the air. Even the coach fell and broke his arm when he tried it.
Later they went to a small mountain slope behind the Military Academy in Fengshan to practice. After several successful flights, they decided to face the challenge of greater altitudes. Coincidentally, one of the participants, Pan Feng-yi, hailed from Taishan Village, right near Saichia. Struck by an inspiration, Pan suggested there would be no harm in trying out Saichia. Carrying equipment they had designed and manufactured themselves, Pan and friends formed a group and went on a test run. Since the little road covered over by trees was too narrow to drive, they had to hike up to the top. But they were very pleased when they got there and had a look around. Without regard for whom the land might belong to, they immediately began cutting down trees to create embryonic takeoff and landing fields.
Having been busy for a while, by the time they got set up for a formal takeoff they noticed the sky darkening. But it proved impossible for them to resist the seduction of flying.
"At that time the landing area was a sugar cane field. I just glanced over the area and then took off. I didn't expect to see when I approached the field that bamboo had also been planted there, and I ended up hung up on the bamboo. Later when everybody got together, Yu Chi-kao was gone. Because visibility was low, and we had prepared no form of communications, we decided to call the police to come and search. We were really surprised when we got to the police station and there he was! He thought we had been killed in an accident, and had gone to get help. Because Saichia was at that time considered a Class A Restricted Mountain Area, we were punished for having gone there in the first place, and the landowner, who was furious, demanded NT$50,000."
Thereafter, regardless of rain or cutting winds, they continued to show up at Saichia. They did it to fly, but also not to let down the aboriginal children who would enthusiastically wait for them without fail. Even if the weather was so bad they absolutely couldn't go gliding, they could still hang around the whole day and have a great time. In 1980, Eung formed the Firebird Team, taking in 30 students at no charge. As word got around, Saichia became a hang gliders' paradise.
In early 1981, Eung held an enormous hang-gliding wedding, a first in Taiwan. Media reports on it kept up for a month or more, making Saichia famous. Then Taiwan provincial governor (and now president) Lee Teng-hui visited here on a local inspection tour, and set aside two special appropriations for the county government to lay out and maintain the site, creating fertile ground for the future growth of hang-gliding activities.
Unfortunately, with no precedents to follow, mistakes were inevitable. Originally the takeoff field was about 20 meters long, at an incline of 20 to 30 degrees. But because of inappropriate construction, it has become a precariously steep slope. Also, to one takes regular care of the grass. Not long ago, the roadway was built so that it cut the landing field right in half. The "Saichia Recreation Center," built next to the road, was originally put under the management of the Hang Gliding Committee of Taiwan, ROC, but has since been turned over to a certain school for educational purposes. The result is that it does not now offer housing and food to gliders, the things they are most urgently in need of.
(right) A mountain chain is one of the advantages Saichia offers for gliding.