China Airlines Flight 204

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.

Aircraft
The aircraft was a Boeing 737-209, registration B-180, which first flew on 3 December 1986 and was delivered to the airline two weeks later.

Accident
Flight 204 departed Hualien Airport on a short-haul domestic flight to Chiang Kai-shek International Airport (now Taoyuan International Airport) on the island of Taiwan with 47 passengers and seven 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 (3.4 mi) north of the airport. All 54 passengers and crew members were killed.

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.