China Airlines Flight CI204, a Boeing 737 crashed into a mountain after take off from Hualien Airport

Hualien Airport

Hualien Airport is a commercial airport located in a 11.5 hectare civilian area of a military airbase in Hualien, Taiwan. It primary serves domestic flights although it can handle international charter flights as well...

, Taiwan on 26 October 1989. The crash killed all 54 passengers and crew on board the aircraft.

Aircraft

The aircraft that crashed was a Boeing 737-200 registration B-180, having first flown on 3 December 1986.

Accident

China Airlines

China Airlines

China Airlines is both the flag carrier and the largest airline of Republic of China . Although not directly state-owned, the airline is owned by China Airlines Group, which is owned by the China Aviation Development Foundation...

 Flight 204 took off from Hualien Airport

Hualien Airport

Hualien Airport is a commercial airport located in a 11.5 hectare civilian area of a military airbase in Hualien, Taiwan. It primary serves domestic flights although it can handle international charter flights as well...

 on a short haul flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on the island of Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

. 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.

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.