Most big airports are far away, out past the edge of the city. But in Taipei, there is an airport right in the middle of town! It's called Songshan Airport.
This is An-An, who loves watching planes. And this is Jetty, a little jet who lives at Songshan. Let's visit!
👆 Tap the glowing circles. Tap 📖 Read to me to hear the story. Press Next ▶ to keep reading, or jump straight to the game.
Long, long ago, in 1936, there were rice fields here. Then workers built a grassy airfield, and the first passenger planes came. It was one of the first big airports in Taiwan!
Back then, it was called Taihoku Airfield. Planes had propellers, and flying was a big adventure. 👆 Tap the old plane.
🚂 From 1936 to 1976, a little train line ran right to the airport. Today you can ride the MRT's brown Wenhu Line there instead!
Later, big jets came. For almost 30 years, Songshan was Taiwan's door to the world. Families came to wave goodbye to the planes.
But the city kept growing all around the airport, and there was no room to make it bigger. So in 1979, the flights to faraway countries moved to a brand-new airport in Taoyuan. 👆 Tap the years!
👨👩👧 In its busiest year, 1997, more than 15 million people flew from Songshan. That's like two out of every three people in all of Taiwan!
Songshan has just one runway, the long road where planes take off and land. It is 2,605 meters long. If you laid Taipei 101 down on its side, you'd need about 5 of them to cover it! 👆 Try it.
Look at the buildings near the runway. They are short. Near an airport, buildings must stay low, so planes have safe, open sky to fly through.
🌊 The airport sits only about 5 meters above the sea, about as tall as a two-story house.The runway has big numbers painted on each end: 10 and 28. They are compass directions! Land on Runway 10 and you're heading 100°, almost due east. Runway 28 points 280°, almost due west.
Pilots like to take off and land into the wind. The wind gives the wings extra air, so the plane can touch the ground slower. 👆 Change the wind and watch which way Jetty lands.
🧭 Every runway in the world is named this way: take its compass direction and drop the last zero. 100° becomes 10.
Lots of people live right next to Songshan Airport. Jet engines are loud! So from 11 at night to 6 in the morning, planes don't take off or land here, unless there is an emergency. The planes get some sleep too.
At night, the runway lights glow softly in the dark: white along the runway and blue along the little roads where planes drive. 👆 Tap the lights.
😴 Airports near homes often have quiet hours. Pilots also use special take-off steps to make less noise over houses.Where do planes from Songshan go? Most fly to Taiwan's islands: Kinmen, Matsu and Penghu, and to Hualien and Taitung on the east coast.
For people who live on the islands, the plane is like a bridge in the sky to visit family, go to school, or see a doctor in Taipei. 👆 Tap the places.
🏝️ About 9 out of 10 people who fly inside Taiwan from Songshan are going to or coming from Kinmen, Matsu or Penghu. Some planes also fly to cities like Tokyo, Seoul and Shanghai.
Jetty is a private jet, a small jet for just a few people. It's like a taxi in the sky: it flies when and where its passengers need.
In 2011, an old Air Force hangar on the east side of Songshan became a home for private jets. Last year, they made about 1,300 flights here, three or four every day! 👆 Tap around the hangar.
🇹🇼 Part of Songshan is an Air Force base too. Its special planes carry Taiwan's president on trips.
What happens if someone on a little island gets very sick, and the island's hospital is too small? They need a big hospital, fast!
Then a doctor calls for an air ambulance: a plane or helicopter that is like a tiny flying hospital, with a bed, oxygen, a heart monitor and a nurse. 👆 Pack the air ambulance!
🩺 Kinmen, Matsu and Penghu each have their own air ambulance waiting, ready to fly. Some air ambulances are small private jets with a special bed inside, just like Jetty!
When the air ambulance lands at Songshan, a regular ambulance is already waiting right beside the plane. The patient rolls from the jet to the ambulance, and off they go!
Because the airport is in the city, 9 big emergency hospitals are just a 10 to 15 minute drive away. 👆 Press the button.
🏝️ Last year, about 38,000 people from the islands came to Taiwan to see doctors. People who are very, very sick can't wait for the next plane or boat, so they fly by air ambulance.Why do the islands need Songshan? People in Kinmen, Matsu and Penghu fly here to visit family, go to work, go to school, or see a doctor. Last year there were about 2.4 million trips between Songshan and the islands!
For a very sick person, every minute counts. Songshan is right in the city, so the ambulance only has a short drive to a big hospital. 👆 Compare the two airports.
🤝 Taoyuan International Airport is about 40 km from downtown Taipei. It is great for big jets flying all over the world, and Songshan is great for quick trips to the islands. When the weather is bad, each airport can be a backup for the other.
| Tap a button | to compare! |
Some islands are tiny, like Orchid Island and Green Island. Their runways are too short for jets. So rescue helicopters come instead!
A helicopter doesn't need a runway. Its spinning blades lift it straight up, and it can land on a small circle with a big H, called a helipad. 👆 Compare Whirly and Jetty.
🚁 Taiwan's rescue helicopter team, the National Airborne Service Corps, is building a new home for its helicopters at Songshan Airport. Some of their pilots wear night-vision goggles to fly rescues in the dark!Songshan has been in the middle of Taipei since 1936. Today it is a bridge in the sky to the islands, a home for private jets, and a fast way to bring very sick people to big hospitals.
🧠 Quick Quiz!