China Airlines Flight 204
Boeing 737-209 · Takeoff from wrong runway, wrong turn after airborne due to pilot and ATC error resulting in CFIT
From Hualien Chiashan Airport (HUN) to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE)
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 54 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 54
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
Boeing 737-209
- Flight
- CI204
- Aircraft type
- Boeing 737
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- B-180
- Operator
- China Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- 54
- Route
- From Hualien Chiashan Airport (HUN)To Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE)
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Task performance
- Environmental issues › Operating environment
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
China Airlines Flight 204 (CI204/CAL204) was a Boeing 737-200 that crashed into a mountain after takeoff from Hualien Airport, Taiwan, on 26 October 1989. The crash killed all 54 passengers and crew on board the aircraft.
Accident
Flight 204 departed Hualien Airport on a short-haul domestic flight to Sungshan Airport on the island of Taiwan with 47 passengers and 7 crew members aboard. Ten minutes after takeoff, the plane collided with a mountain in the Chiashan range at an altitude of approximately 2100 m, 5.5 km north of the airport. All 54 passengers and crew members were killed.
Investigation and cause
Cause
The major cause of the crash was determined to be pilot error, as the experienced pilot (15 years with China Airlines) and a novice copilot departed from the wrong runway, a mistake compounded by ground-control personnel who failed to spot the error. The aircraft then flew the climb-out procedure for the correct runway, and as a result, the aircraft made a left turn toward the mountains rather than a right turn toward the sea.
Text from the Wikipedia article “China Airlines Flight 204” (revision 1349250473, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: China Airlines Flight 204
- Article
- China Airlines Flight 204
- Revision
- 1349250473 · 2026-04-16 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q5099564
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "China Airlines Flight 204" (page 27559529, revision 1349250473)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- airline flight number in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.