Summary
Visiting Taoyuan to watch airplanes is a highly recommended activity for tourists. If foreign friends ask me what’s fun in Taoyuan, I would probably suggest them to go and watch airplanes near Taoyuan Airport! The airplane-watching spot located on the Taoyuan Dayuan Emergency Contact Road is a great place to get up close and personal with airplanes taking off and landing. It’s a place that can make people visit again and again, leisurely watching airplanes take off and land, easily spending several hours.
Following my previous experience of watching airplanes take off and land near the northern runway at “Miracle Coffee Field” (related travelogue can be found here), as well as shooting the rear of airplanes at the third terminal coffee shop about two weeks ago… (I didn’t write a separate article because the weather was bad), this time I took advantage of the good weather during the Qingming holiday and the consideration that there would be charter flights during the holiday period. I rode my motorcycle early in the morning to this not-so-secret spot – the Taoyuan Dayuan Emergency Contact Road – to shoot airplanes.
Location for watching airplanes on the Taoyuan Airport Emergency Contact Road
Address & Coordinates for watching airplanes in Dayuan, Taoyuan:
Downhill Road Airport Contact Road, Dayuan Township, Taoyuan County. Google navigation coordinates: E121°14’09” (121.2358) N 25°04’04” (25.0678). You can arrive at the spot using these coordinates. Currently, the contact road is fenced off with barriers, so I recommend parking in the empty space across the road. Also, please remember to take your trash with you and not cause inconvenience to the locals.
In the morning, the contact road is well-lit, so if the weather is good, you can easily take photos with the blue sky as the background, and there won’t be too many shadows on the airplanes. However, because the contact road itself is blocked by wire mesh fences, you need to be extra careful not to get cut while shooting; more professional photographers will bring a small ladder to avoid the wire mesh obstructing their view when shooting airplanes.
▼ This photo was taken when I was about to leave. Even in the early morning, many people came with their families.
Originally, the purpose of this trip was to shoot “Delta Air Lines,” which is about to cancel its Taiwan route, but I didn’t get to shoot it because it took off from the northern runway. (Because there aren’t many related articles online, I’m not sure if Delta Air Lines always takes off from the northern runway, please correct me if I’m wrong); nevertheless, due to the many charter flights during the Qingming holiday, and considering that it was in the morning, I managed to shoot quite a few rolls of film in just under two hours.
▼ What sets the contact road apart from other spots is that you can shoot the front of the airplanes, which, when combined with a telephoto lens, creates a very powerful and dynamic effect. (The photo is of an EVA Air 777-300ER, currently the world’s largest twin-engine wide-body airplane)
Today, the southern runway was used for takeoffs and landings from the west, so most of the photos I took were of airplanes either taking off or taxiing for landing. Because EVA Air dominates the takeoffs from the southern runway, although I took photos of every one, I will only include a few representative ones.
▼ An Air Macau A321-231 aircraft taking off for Macau, with the registration number B-MAQ. It flew the Taipei-Macau route twice that day.
▼ ANA’s cargo plane, with a clean and powerful livery.
▼ Eastar Jet arriving from Incheon Airport, with a Boeing 737-800 aircraft with the registration number HL8264, which has been in service for 18 years.
▼ Compared to a front view of a 747 aircraft and a 777-300ER, the majesty of the Queen of the Skies, the 747, is still slightly superior.
▼ A China Airlines A330-302 aircraft taking off for Kansai International Airport, with the registration number B-18352, a China Airlines aircraft that is rarely seen in the sea of EVA Air planes.
▼ A China Airlines A321-211 aircraft flying to Tianjin, with the registration number B-16219, a new aircraft with only one year of service (in the old China Airlines livery).
▼ A China Airlines 777-36N(ER) aircraft flying to Singapore, with the registration number B-16722, a Hello Kitty Star Jet (currently one of the three remaining aircraft with the mouthless Hello Kitty livery).
▼ A Cathay Pacific Airways 777-367(ER) aircraft flying from Hong Kong to Taoyuan, with the registration number B-KPB, in the livery of the Hong Kong Spirit.
▼ A China Airlines 747-400 aircraft (B-16410) taking off for Manila, with a service life of 19 years. It should be retired this year.
▼ A Cathay Pacific Airways B777-367(ER) aircraft (BKPS) flying from Hong Kong to Taoyuan.
▼ A cool-looking Scoot Airlines 777-212(ER) aircraft (HS-XBB) flying to Bangkok.
▼ A Xiamen Airlines B737-86N aircraft (B-5309) flying to Xiamen, which was delayed on that day.
▼ An Air Macau A319-132 aircraft, with the registration number B-MAL. The A319 aircraft is really mini.
▼ A Spring Airlines A320-214 aircraft (B-1627) that just arrived from Shanghai and passed by a China Airlines aircraft.
▼ A Cathay Dragon A330-343 aircraft, with the registration number B-LBE, taking off very quickly. Is it because it’s not fully loaded?
▼ A Peach Aviation A320-214 aircraft (JA804P) arriving from Osaka to Taipei.
▼ A China Airlines A330-300 aircraft seen from the front is also quite spectacular, followed closely by a China Airlines 747-400 cargo plane.
▼ A China Airlines A321-211 aircraft (B-16227) flying to Sapporo, a new aircraft that arrived in the second half of last year.
▼ A Tigerair Taiwan A321-232 aircraft (B-50007) flying back from Naha Airport. It’s a bit tiring to fly for over four hours on a low-cost carrier.
▼ Another EVA Air Hello Kitty livery aircraft (Hand-in-Hand Jet), a B777-35ER (B-16703), flying to Macau. It should be using a large aircraft due to the holiday.
▼ A China Airlines B737-8AL aircraft (B-18665) flying back from Hiroshima, also a new aircraft less than a year old.
▼ A Xiamen Airlines old livery aircraft, a B737-85C (B-5533), flying back from Fuzhou.
▼ A China Airlines A330-302 (B-16336) flying to Denpasar, Bali, an A333 aircraft with a service life of only one year (in the old livery).
▼ A China Airlines A350-941 aircraft (B-18905), which flew back from Amsterdam the day before. I really want to find an opportunity to fly on an A350.
▼ A China Southern Airlines B737-86N aircraft (B-1980) flying from Zhengzhou to Taiwan, arriving more than two hours later than scheduled.
▼ A Shandong Airlines B737-85N aircraft (B-5452) flying from Jinan to Taiwan, also arriving later than scheduled.
▼ A EVA Air B777-36N(ER) aircraft (B-16728) flying to Singapore, also a new aircraft with only a few months of service.
▼ A China Eastern Airlines A320-214 aircraft (B-6012) flying from Hefei to Taiwan, another Chinese aircraft that arrived late on the day.
▼ A Jin Air B737-8SH aircraft (HL8014) from South Korea, with a lively corporate identity. It also quickly taxied back.
▼ The Air Busan aircraft I just saw is preparing to take off back to Seoul.
▼ A Philippine Airlines A321-231 aircraft (RP-C9907) transiting in Taiwan and stopping in Osaka.
▼ A Cathay Pacific Airways B777-367(ER) aircraft (B-KPS) taking off back to Hong Kong. I think I took this flight when I went to Hong Kong last time.
▼ The giant Emirates A380 aircraft, only available in the afternoon.
Finally, I’ll end with a photo of my beloved motorcycle. Thanks for taking me to Taoyuan to shoot airplanes.
