Adolescents under age 15 are now banned from boarding ultra-light aircraft after the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) yesterday said it had completed an amendment to the Ultra-light Vehicle Operation Regulations (超輕載具管理辦法).
“The minimum age was determined after we consulted the Insurance Act (保險法), because the life insurance policy does not cover adolescents under the age of 15,” CAA Director-General Yin Chen-pong (尹承蓬) said. “We now require passengers boarding an ultra-light aircraft to be least 15 years old.”
The CAA said it decided to set the minimum age requirement after complaints that it was dangerous for elementary and junior-high school students to board such aircraft on field trips, despite the fact students were required to secure consent from their legal guardians.
Adolescents from 15 to 18 years of age are only allowed to ride in ultra-light aircraft as passengers with a flight instructor or other licensed individuals, and are barred from operating the craft, Yin said.
Furthermore, learning permit applicants must be at least 18 years old, the CAA said, adding that trainees can only practice operating an ultra-light aircraft under the supervision of an instructor. Those applying for a pilot’s license must be at least 20 years old and trainees can only fly solo after they obtain the license.
Yin said the amended regulations require pilots to maintain a blood alcohol concentration of less than 0.04 percent, or below 0.2mg per liter when measured on a breathalyzer, which is a stricter standard than that for car drivers.
He added that ultra-light aircraft pilots are asked to follow the “see and avoid” principle when they operate the vehicles, particularly when two aircraft are approaching head-on, converging at the same altitude or when one aircraft is trying to overtake another.
According to the CAA, ultra-light vehicles are characterized as fixed-wing airplanes, helicopters, gyroplanes, powered parachutes and power paragliders. Those operating the aircraft without a license face a penalty of between NT$60,000 and NT$300,000.
Currently, pilots of ultra-light aircraft can fly in 10 designated zones nationwide.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods