Air China Flight 129 - Accident Report

Accident Report

The official accident report by the Korea Aviation Accident Investigation Board was released in May 2005. The Probable Cause read:

1. The flight crew of flight 129 performed the circling approach, not being aware of the weather minima of wide-body aircraft (B767-200) for landing, and in the approach briefing, did not include the missed approach, etc., among the items specified in Air China’s operations and training manuals.
2. The flight crew exercised poor crew resource management and lost situational awareness during the circling approach to runway 18R, which led them to fly outside of the circling approach area, delaying the base turn, contrary to the captain’s intention to make a timely base turn.
3. The flight crew did not execute a missed approach when they lost sight of the runway during the circling approach to runway 18R, which led them to strike high terrain (mountain) near the airport.
4. When the first officer advised the captain to ascend again for landing, about 5 seconds before impact, the captain did not react, nor did the first officer initiate the missed approach himself.

During the accident flight the airline made the pre-flight safety demonstration and announcements in Chinese and English, but not in Korean, while 135 of 155 of the passengers were Korean. The Korean investigation board recommended that Air China begin announcements in Korean on flights to and from South Korea.

Other than the report released by the Korean Aviation Accident Investigation Board, the Chinese investigation team pointed out,

1. ATC official in the airport, Park Junyong, did not own a license for air traffic control issued by the South Korean Construction and Transportation Ministry.
2. Park did not know the property of the aircraft, a Boeing 767, and mistakenly directed the airliner to descend to an altitude of 700 feet (213.5m) instead of 1,100 feet (335.5m).
3. The airport did not inform the crew of the weather conditions at the time. Eight flights before CA129 were directed to land at other airports because of bad weather.
4. There were also problems with the radar system and lighting at Kimhae Airport.