South Korea & Taiwan 2025

Seoul International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition + Taiwan military bases

South Korea & Taiwan 2025

Starting with a visit to the Seoul International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition (ADEX), two 4Aviation groups headed for Taiwan afterwards to pay a visit to the military bases of the Republic of China Air Force across the island. The two groups each had their own schedule for Taiwan.

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15/16 October 2025

Mid-morning on Wednesday (15 October), the fellow travellers arrived right on time for the long flight to Seoul-Incheon, connecting in Guangzhou. Checking in and dropping off our bags presented no problems. Even security went smoothly. Afterward, we had to wait in line for customs, but we were all at the gate well before boarding time. The China Southern flight departed on time and landed in Guangzhou easily ahead of the scheduled arrival time (Thursday 16 October by now). The transfer in Guangzhou for the flight to Seoul-Incheon was rapid, yet uneventful. The flight to Seoul also departed on time, and we arrived at Incheon Airport at the advertised time.

With the usual queue(s) for customs, it took a while before we could all collect our luggage from the belt. Next step: the shuttle bus to the car rental. Here, more travellers were met. The group would consist of two vans/groups in Korea, splitting up when getting to Taiwan. The formalities here went smoothly, so thankfully the tired group was soon on their way through the busy Seoul traffic towards the hotel for the next two nights.

The hotel, of course, knew we were coming, so check-in went very quickly. Meanwhile, we had also met some other 4Aviation members. No less than four different 4Aviation groups were getting together at the same hotel. Then it was time to freshen up and, for those who wanted it, grab a bite to eat at one of the many local Korean BBQ restaurants.

17 October 2025

Immediately after breakfast (on Friday 17 October), we headed for Seongnam to experience the first (opening) day of ADEX. We were able to park our van a short walk from the entrance. Picking up our pre-booked tickets went smoothly, and we quickly strolled over the static display. The static display consisted mainly of Korean aircraft, one or more of each type. Two Korean-based US F-16s and a rather gray Growler were the only foreign participants. The show opened with a fly-past of 25 aircraft in five groups, led by an A330 with four F-35s. The remaining flying program was limited to a solo T-50, the new KF-21 Boramae, the Black Eagles (not to be missed, of course), and a Combat Search and Rescue showpiece featuring, among others, two HH-60s. Interspersed among the display flights were some based Hercules, Casas, and (Blackhawk) helicopters. At the end of the afternoon, we returned to the van and attempted to drive back to the hotel. Despite the short distance, this proved to take a while due to the ever-heavy traffic around Seoul. That evening, the majority of the group(s) discussed the positive results of this first ADEX day at the same BBQ restaurant of the previous night, which once again proved to be an excellent choice.

18 October 2025

Given the successful Friday and the poor weather forecast for Saturday (18 October), the group decided to first view some preserved aircraft in Seoul itself before heading back to Seongnam for the afternoon program of the ADEX expo. And so we did. We first went to Boramae Park to see the preserved aircraft there, followed by some time at the Korean War Memorial and its extensive collection of aircraft on display.

Information provided indicated that the local flight program would begin after 1:00 PM, so around this time we found a spot in the approach area near Seongnam and waited for what was to come. Well, due to the low clouds, there weren’t as many activities as the day before. Fortunately, we had already secured the shots we wanted.

Late in the afternoon, we said goodbye to another 4Aviation team present and set course for Seoul-Incheon Airport. After encountering the “mother of all traffic jams”, and thus many delays, we finally arrived at our hotel for the night. After all, we had to be at the airport relatively early the next morning for our flight to Taipei. The rental car was returned without any problems, followed by a quick bite to eat and a few hours of sleep.

19 October 2025

Sunday 19 October, early in the morning, several taxis took us to the terminal at Incheon for the flight to Taipei. Check-in, security, and so on were seamless. The flight to Taipei departed promptly and was routine. Once at Taipei Airport, we encountered the usual queue for customs. After the passport and electronic visa waiver checks, our luggage was retrieved, and the rental company picked us up for the usual formalities when picking up the two rental vans.

Now, it was time for the two groups to split up, since each group had its own itinerary in Taiwan. Since our group was scheduled to start our adventure with spending a day at Hualien on Monday, we drove towards this city via a couple of preserved aircraft along the way.

20 October 2025

On Monday morning (20 October), we were very happy to notice that the sun was shining brightly when our pre-ordered breakfast was delivered to the hotel. The weather forecast called for a lot of bad weather the coming week, so we were lucky. We quickly got underway and ended up enjoying the sun near the base, waiting for things to come.

Unfortunately, these things didn’t come. Despite the best possible weather, the local F-16s kept in hiding. We set new deadlines regularly (every hour) for them to appear, and were disappointed every time. We were caught off guard by a C-130 that took of and saw one NASC UH-60 hovering very far away.

Around 3 PM we had enough and came to the painful conclusion that we weren’t going to be lucky today. We left, stopped for a preserved F-5E nearby and headed south for Taitung.

21 October 2025

Also on Tuesday, 21 October, we were happy to notice that the weather was more than fine! We were up early, since the T-BE5A Brave Eagles would normally be active early as well. This was also the case on this day. Besides around ten Brave Eagles, we also saw four F-16s operating from here. The F-16s still wore their 4th and 5th TFW markings, but are based here with 7th TFW (which is expecting the new built F-16s).

When things turned a bit quiet, we visited to civil airport where we could capture a UH-60M (aka Skittlehawk) from the NASC. After a couple of preserved aircraft we went back to the approach of Taitung. The next wave yielded a couple of new aircraft.

Since we weren’t expecting a lot more here, we decided to head for Pingtung. This base was not in the original schedule, but the presence of P-3s and E-2s where was very tempting. Unfortunately, nothing happened here while we were there.

At the end of the day, we ended up in a hotel in Tainan, where we were to spend 2 nights.

22 October 2025

On Wednesday morning (22 October), the weather wasn’t as beautiful as the previous days. Still, the light wasn’t too bad when we captured the F-CK-1C and Ds returning to Tainan after that morning sortie. No less than 14 of this rare aircraft type, only to be seen in Taiwan, took to the air.

Happy with this number, we drove to Chiayi. At this F-16 base, we were treated to ten F-16s. Unfortunately, it was rather cloudy when they returned. This also hampered our chances of getting a decent shot of the Army UH-60 that landed.

That night, after meeting the other 4Aviation group, we ended up in the same restaurant as the night before.

23 October 2025

The two 4Aviation groups were departing the hotel in Tainan at almost the same time on Thursday 23 October. While the other group headed for Tainan, we chose to go to Gangshan, where the Air Force Academy is. On our arrival, the orange T-34s were already active. A wave of 17 T-34s was in the air. With the types of the Academy taking to the air one by one, we were hoping for the AT-3s to take off next. This turned out to be a wave of T-BE5As (10 of them), followed by a Beech 1900.

It was then time to visit the air force museum nearby, known as the Aviation Education Exhibition Hall. When we were finished with the museum, we noticed AT-3s taking off. We were quite happy with that, since the type was very near to being withdrawn. We witnessed the return of a couple of them, before heading to Pingtung again.

A little over an hour later, we were in position again. Unfortunately, besides a single NCSIST Albatross UAV, no aircraft were seen again. At least, we tried twice here.

We then headed for the last hotel of the tour, in Taichung. Somehow, this was rather difficult to reach/find.

24 October 2025

From Taichung, we chose to drive to Hsinchu in Friday morning (24 October). Since this was an official holiday (re-established as such in 2025, which hadn’t been announced yet when we scheduled the tour…), we weren’t sure about whether or not they would be active.

Luckily, after a little wait, the first Mirage 2000s took off. Eventually, we were able to capture a dozen deux-milles (single and two-seaters). Stimulated by the knowledge that the air force was active today, we headed for Ching Chuan Kang (CCK, Taichung, the second Ching Kuo base). Unfortunately, this base was quiet on Friday afternoon. The only activity came from civil aircraft here.

We returned to the hotel, aiming for another chance on Saturday.

25/26 October 2025

On this last day in Taiwan (Saturday 25 October), the group decided to try our luck once again at Ching Chuan Kang to add a few F-CK-1C/Ds to the logbooks. Again, we were unlucky though. We waited for a couple of hours for things to happen, but eventually concluded that nothing was going to happen.

Since we still had quite some time left before our departure, we drove to Songshan. There, we spent some time capturing civil aircraft (no military flew while we were there). By then, the time had come to drive back to Taoyuan (Taipei International Airport). Those that flew on their own were dropped off and the van was handed in.

After check-in the other group was in sight again. The flight from Taipei to Hong Kong was more or less than routine.

The connecting flight to Amsterdam departed from Hong Kong also on time. Due to air traffic control restrictions, we flew the “long” route to Amsterdam, and after almost 14 hours in the air, everyone was happy to disembark (on Sunday 26 October by now). There was a long wait at the baggage carousel. Our bags were the last to come out of the system. Unfortunately, the outcome of the Taiwan part of the tour was different for the two groups. The other group was “better off” in the end, especially with their great day at Hualien. This is just how things sometimes go. Despite this, our group was happy, had a lot of fun, enjoyed each other’s company and considering another visit to Taiwan already.