- Air China Flight 129 was approaching Busan airport on the South Korean Coast. What happened in those last few minutes that caused a Boeing 767 to crash into a mountainside killing all but the pilot and 37 passengers?
- On April 15, 2002, a Boeing 767-200ER operating as Air China Flight 129 from Beijing to Busan, crashed into a hill while trying to land at Gimhae International Airport in Busan during inclement weather, killing 129 of the 166 people on board.—Anthony B.
- April 15th, 2002
Nearly three hours after leaving Beijing, Air China Flight 129 is approaching Gimhae International Airport in Busan, South Korea. Descending through light rain and fog, the crew runs through their approach checklist. And with the airport in sight, they circle around to line up with the runway. The visual approach to Gimhae requires them to precisely time a series of turns before touching down, and changing weather conditions pose an additional challenge for the crew. In the tower, the controller struggles to track the incoming plane through thickening clouds. And in the cockpit, there is panic as the pilots suddenly realize they're desperately off-course. Moments later the Boeing 767 crashes into a hillside several miles from the airport.
Thousands of emergency responders swarm the crash site. Of the 166 people on board, 37 survive, including the captain. Korean air accident investigators arrive on the scene along with American investigators from the NTSB. The widely scattered wreckage indicates the back of plane landed first, meaning the pilot was pulling up as the plane hit the ground. Air traffic controllers tell investigators that Flight 129 was initially slated to perform a straight-in approach that was later switched to a circling approach due to a change in wind direction. The controller made the routine change so the plane could land into the wind, and remembers the crew was so slow to respond to his instructions that he resorted to contacting them on the airport's emergency frequency. When they finally called back, it seemed the plane was on track though it crashed less than a minute later.
Determined to find out what was going on in the cockpit during the unusual delay, investigators speak to the captain who, in a series of interviews, tells them that everything on board was normal: There was nothing mechanically wrong with the plane, the crew had no difficulty communicating with the tower, and the mountain seemed to come out of nowhere, he says. But investigators already know the crew's radio communications were far from normal. It is a troubling contradiction.
When lab technicians later recover the data from the FDR, it becomes clear the crew mishandled the early stages of their approach to Busan. Every airport has specific landing procedures, and pilots are trained to follow these procedures to the letter. At Busan, the landing procedure for a circling approach calls for pilots to use a cockpit chronometer to precisely time their maneuvers to the second. But the FDR indicates the aircraft was flying too fast, and that it did not turn on time or with a steep enough bank. This explains the missed landing, but what's still a mystery is why three professional pilots failed to correct the problem.
Investigators dig into their work histories and learn that while the experienced captain was very familiar with the aircraft, he had never before landed at Gimhae, and had never attempted a circling approach to Gimhae in a flight simulator. But the captain's inexperience with the assigned approach does not provide a full explanation for the crash. Pilots have charts in the cockpit that explain landing procedures, and crews land at unfamiliar airports all the time without incident.
Investigators listen to the cockpit voice recorder, and it soon becomes clear the crew missed a critical step-they never conducted the required approach briefing before attempting to land at Gimhae. This helps explain why the crew botched their first turn. The CVR also reveals a breakdown in communication and lack of coordination in the cockpit. Just moments before their fatal impact-and continuing with an approach they failed to discuss in advance- the captain responded to his first officer's concern about wind speed by suddenly taking over the flying duties. This confused the first officer and made the division of duties uncertain, all the while increasing the captain's workload and diverting his attention from the timer. The captain failed to turn at the end of the timer.
Investigators also learn that low clouds obscured the runway in those final moments. It's a critical development since a circling approach falls under visual flight rules. Accordingly, pilots must be able to see the runway at all times, and if they lose sight of it, they must immediately abort the landing and go around to try again. Investigators are amazed to discover the pilots continued with their approach to Busan, even though they could no longer see the runway.
Investigators never learn why the captain failed to initiate a missed approach after losing sight of the runway. Three years later, the Korean investigation board's final report cites human error as the cause of the crash.
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