- China Airlines Flight 204
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China Airlines Flight 204 Accident summary Date 26 October 1989 Type Pilot error, CFIT Site Chiashan mountain range near Hualien Airport, Taiwan. Passengers 47 Crew 7 Injuries 0 Fatalities 54 (all) Survivors 0 Aircraft type Boeing 737-209 Operator China Airlines Tail number B-180 Flight origin Hualien Airport Destination Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport China Airlines Flight CI204, a Boeing 737 crashed into a mountain after take off from Hualien Airport, Taiwan on 26 October 1989. The crash killed all 54 passengers and crew on board the aircraft.
Contents
Aircraft
The aircraft that crashed was a Boeing 737-200 registration B-180, having first flown on 3 December 1986.[1]
Accident
China Airlines Flight 204 took off from Hualien Airport on a short haul flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on the island of Taiwan. On board the Boeing 737 were 47 passengers and 7 crew. Ten minutes after take-off the aircraft, having reached a height of 7,000 ft (2,100 m) collided with a mountain, part of the Chiashan mountain range, 5.5 km (3.4 mi) north of the airport. All 54 passengers and crew on board were killed.[1][2][3]
Cause
The major cause of the crash was pilot error, with the crew, consisting of an experienced (15 years with China Airlines) and a novice co-pilot, taking off from the wrong runway, compounded by Ground control, who failed to spot the error. The aircraft then flew the climbout procedure for the runway that the flight was planned to use, resulting in the aircraft making a left turn towards the mountains rather than a right turn towards the sea.[2][4]
References
- ^ a b "Aircraft accident Boeing 737-209 B-180 Hualien Airport (HUN)". Retrieved 3 June 2010.
- ^ a b Flight International 4 November 1989, p. 8.
- ^ "Accident Details". planecrashinfo.com. Retrieved 3 June 2010.
- ^ Flight International 6–12 December 1989, p. 8.
- "Crashed 737 'turned wrong way'". Flight International, 4 November 1989, p. 8.
- "CVR reveals pilot error". Flight International, 6–12 December 1989, p. 8.
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Oct 26 China Airlines Flight 204
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Dec 26 United Express Flight 2415Incidents resulting in at least 50 deaths shown in italics. Deadliest incident shown in bold smallcaps. Categories:- Aviation accidents and incidents in 1989
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- Aviation accidents and incidents officially attributed to pilot error
- Accidents and incidents involving controlled flight into terrain
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