Far Eastern Air Transport Flight 104 should not be confused with Far Eastern Air Transport Flight 103.
| Occurrence Type: | Accident |
| Far Eastern Transport Flight 104 | |
| Type: | Engine failure |
| Site: | Near Tainan City, Taiwan |
| Plane1 Image: | British United Airways (BUA) G-APWI, Newcastle, 26 June 66.jpg |
| Plane1 Caption: | The Handley Page Dart Herald involved in the accident, seen in June 1966 while still in service with British United Airways |
| Aircraft Type: | Handley Page Dart Herald 201 |
| Operator: | Far Eastern Air Transport |
| Tail Number: | B-2009 |
| Origin: | Kaohsiung International Airport |
| Destination: | Taipei Songshan Airport |
| Occupants: | 36 |
| Passengers: | 32 |
| Crew: | 4 |
| Fatalities: | 36 |
| Survivors: | 0 |
Far Eastern Air Transport Flight 104 was a short-haul flight from Kaohsiung International Airport to Taipei Songshan Airport, Taiwan, which was operated a Handley Page Dart Herald 201 that crashed on 24 February 1969 upon its approach for an emergency landing in Tainan Airport in Taiwan.[1]
The aircraft operating flight 104 was a Handley Page Dart Herald 201, MSN 157 and was registered B-2009. The aircraft was manufactured in 1963 at the Radlett Aerodrom in the UK with its registration G-APWI. It was then bought by Jersey Airlines, then British United Airways then BUIA. It soon went to be purchased by Far Eastern Air Transport.
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 Airport in Tainan City. 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.
The crash was believed to have an engine failure mid-flight. The crew failed to feather the propeller that was making high drag, leading it to lose control.