The Philippines is an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It is situated in the western Pacific Ocean and consists of around 7,641 islands that are broadly categorized under three main geographical divisions from north to south: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The Philippines is bounded by the South China Sea to the west, the Philippine Sea to the east, and the Celebes Sea to the southwest. It shares maritime borders with Taiwan to the north, Japan to the northeast, Palau to the east and southeast, Indonesia to the south, Malaysia to the southwest, Vietnam to the west, and China to the northwest.
The Philippines covers an area of 300,000 km2 (120,000 sq mi) and, as of 2021, it had a population of around 109 million people, making it the world's thirteenth-most populous country. Manila is the country's capital, while the largest city is Quezon City; both lie within the urban area of Metro Manila. Manila is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populated city proper.
The location of the Philippines, as an island country on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", makes it prone to earthquakes and typhoons. The Ring of Fire is a region around much of the rim of the Pacific Ocean where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur; it is a horseshoe-shaped belt about 40,000 km (25,000 mi) long and up to about 500 km (310 mi) wide. The Ring of Fire contains approximately 850–1,000 volcanoes (about two-thirds of the world's total) that have been active during the current geological era; the four largest volcanic eruptions on Earth in the current epoch all occurred at volcanoes in the Ring of Fire.
To fully appreciate the dramatic, volcanic landscape of The Philippines, I invite you to fly from the capital Manila to Loakan Airport RPUB, which serves the City of Baguio. Loakan Airport, the city's only airport, was built in 1934. Its short runway, frequent low visibility, and deep ravines at both ends of the runway continue to challenge pilots greatly, especially when it comes to landing. Runway 09/27 is 5,912 feet long at an elevation of 4,251 feet AMSL. The airport has been closed to commercial operators for safety reasons for some time, but is due to re-open in November 2022 following significant improvement work. EuroHarmony has been contracted to fly test flights in and out of the airport to verify flight safety in all weather conditions before November. These test flights are initially planned for Class 5 aircraft at light weight (no passengers) to establish the safety margin available for the runway length, before any passenger flights are authorised. Weather in the region can be very changeable, so be prepared. You can find some helpful information for approach planning at
https://airportnavfinder.com/airport/RPUB/.
EuroHarmony serves The Philippines with Class 7 Division flights from several Hubs, and a daily Class 5 Main Division service from Singapore - you may wish to begin with the flight from WSSS to RPLL before taking your aircraft over the volcanoes and into RPUB. Addon scenery and mesh (to really appreciate the volcanic terrain) is available at the usual places. Please share your flight reports and pictures here so we can all enjoy the challenge!
