Far Eastern Air Transport FAT Taiwan Inc., () doing business as Far Eastern Air Transport (FAT), was an airline with its head office in Songshan District, Taipei, Taiwan ( Republic of China). Established in 1957, it operated domestic services from Taipei and Kaohsiu ...

Flight 104 was a short-haul flight from

Kaohsiung International Airport Kaohsiung International Airport () is a medium-sized civil airport in Siaogang District, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, also known as Siaogang Airport (). With nearly seven million passengers in 2018, it is the second busiest airport in Taiwan, after T ...

Taipei Songshan Airport Taipei Songshan Airport is a regional airport and military airbase located in Songshan District, Taipei, Taiwan. The airport covers an area of . The civilian section of Songshan Airport has scheduled flights to domestic destinations in Taiwa ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

using a

Handley Page Dart Herald The Handley Page Dart Herald is a 1950s British turboprop passenger aircraft. Design and development In the mid-1950s Handley Page developed a new fast short-range regional airliner, intended to replace the older Douglas DC-3, particularly in ...

aircraft that crashed on 24 February 1969 upon its approach for an emergency landing in

Tainan Airport Tainan Airport (; formally "") is a commercial airport located in South District, Tainan, Taiwan. It is shared with Republic of China Air Force Tainan AFB. In January 2011, the Civil Aeronautics Administration approved the airport to han ...

in Taiwan.

Aircraft

*Aircraft model: Handley Page Dart Herald * Manufacturing serial number (msn): 157 * Registration: B-2009

Accident

On February 24, 1969, the B-2009 aircraft carried out the FE104 flight that ended the Spring Festival holiday and flew from Kaohsiung International Airport to Taipei Songshan Airport. The flight took off at 12:03 pm, after a 13-minute delay from 11:50 am. Ten minutes after take-off, the captain told the Tainan Airport Tower that an engine failure had occurred. The aircraft's port-side engine had failed, leaving its propeller windmilling and the aircraft in a shallow descent. The flight crew decided to divert to

Tainan City Tainan (), officially Tainan City, is a special municipality in southern Taiwan facing the Taiwan Strait on its western coast. Tainan is the oldest city on the island and also commonly known as the "Capital City" for its over 200 years of his ...

. Moments after receiving clearance for an emergency landing, however, the aircraft passed over a wooded area, belly-landed in a small clearing and skidded into a creek. The aircraft broke into three parts and caught fire, killing all on board.

Cause

The right engine had been severely damaged, causing the aircraft to quickly lose altitude.

References

*http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19690224-0 *http://www.planecrashinfo.com/1969/1969-14.htm Aviation accidents and incidents in 1969 Airliner accidents and incidents caused by mechanical failure Aviation accidents and incidents in Taiwan Accidents and incidents involving the Handley Page Dart Herald Far Eastern Air Transport accidents and incidents 1969 in Taiwan February 1969 events in Asia History of Tainan 1969 disasters in Taiwan {{aviation-accident-stub