Allah has chosen us to die and Allah has chosen you to die with us. Allah guarantees our success, Insha'Allah.

— Abdul Abdullah Yahia^[3]

We are the Soldiers of Mercy. Allah has selected us as his soldiers. We are here to wage war in his name.

— Abdul Abdullah Yahia^[5]

We received this information directly from members of the Algerian secret service. And this information was very worrying. The terrorists' true aim was to crash the plane in Paris.

— French Minister of the Interior Charles Pasqua^[6]

• Evacuation slides, to aid rapid passenger exit from an aircraft in an emergency situation^[42]
• Advanced avionics, incorporating computerized auto-recovery and alert systems^[43]
• Turbine engines with improved durability and failure containment mechanisms^[44]
• Landing gear that can be lowered even after loss of power and hydraulics^[45]

One of the big ironies here is the success of the 2001 attacks had nothing to do with airport security in the first place. It was a failure of national security. What the men actually exploited was a weakness in our mind-set – a set of presumptions based on decades-long track record of hijackings. In years past, a hijacking meant a diversion, with hostage negotiations and standoffs. The only weapon that mattered was the intangible one: the element of surprise.^[39]

• Any attempt to hijack will be considered an act of aggression against the country and will prompt a response fit for an aggressor.
• Hijackers, if captured alive, will be put on trial, convicted, and sentenced to death.
• Hijackers will be engaged in negotiations only to bring the incident to an end, to comfort passengers and to prevent loss of lives.
• The hijacked plane will be shot down if it is deemed to become a missile heading for strategic targets.
• The hijacked plane will be escorted by armed fighter aircraft and will be forced to land.
• A hijacked grounded plane will not be allowed to take off under any circumstance.

1. When a person on board has unlawfully committed by force or threat thereof an act of interference, seizure, or other wrongful exercise of control of an aircraft in flight or when such an act is about to be committed, Contracting States shall take all appropriate measures to restore control of the aircraft to its lawful commander or to preserve his control of the aircraft. 2. In the cases contemplated in the preceding paragraph, the Contracting State in which the aircraft lands shall permit its passengers and crew to continue their journey as soon as practicable, and shall return the aircraft and its cargo to the persons lawfully entitled to possession.

• Both planes were Boeing 747s
• Both planes took off in a very hot weather
• Both planes broke apart without warning; and
• Both planes broke apart while they were reaching or at cruising altitude.

• 1Background
  • 1.1Aircraft
  • 1.2Tailstrike incident
  • 1.3Crew
• 2Passengers
• 3Sequence of events
  • 3.1Take-off and decompression
  • 3.26:27–6:34 p.m.
  • 3.36:34–6:48 p.m.
  • 3.46:48–6:55 p.m.
  • 3.56:56 p.m. Time of impact
  • 3.6After the crash
• 4Delayed rescue operation
• 5Investigation
• 6Aftermath and legacy
• 7In popular culture
• 8See also
• 9Bibliography
• 10References
• 11External links

• Captain Masami Takahama (高浜 雅己, Takahama Masami) served as a training instructor for First Officer Yutaka Sasaki on the flight, supervising him while handling the radio communications,^[6][7][8] while also acting as the first officer. Takahama was a veteran pilot, having logged around 12,400 total flight hours, roughly 4,850 of which were accumulated flying 747s. Takahama was aged 49 at the time of the accident.
• First Officer Yutaka Sasaki (佐々木 祐, Sasaki Yutaka) was undergoing training for promotion to the rank of captain, and flew Flight 123 as one of his final training/evaluation flights, acting as captain on the flight.^{[1]: 14–15}  Sasaki, who was 39 years old at the time of the accident, had about 4,000 total flight hours to his credit, and had logged roughly 2,650 hours in the 747.
• Flight Engineer Hiroshi Fukuda (福田 博, Fukuda Hiroshi), a 46-year-old veteran flight engineer, had approximately 9,800 total flight hours, of which roughly 3,850 were accrued flying 747s.^[1]

• Crash location
• Tokyo International Airport (flight origin)
• Osaka International Airport (destination)

• Heavy rain is likely over isolated places of Meghalaya.
• Widespread rain and thunderstorms have been predicted over Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, with a chance for snow in higher elevations
• Fairly widespread rain and thunderstorms are possible over Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura. Himachal may also experience snow at higher elevations.
• Scattered rain and thunderstorms are forecast over Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Kerala and Andaman & Nicobar Islands, with the possibility of snow in Uttarakhand at higher elevations.
• Isolated rain is likely over West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

• Captain Wu Xinlu (age 30).^[a] Captain Wu Xinlu entered the Civil Aviation Flying University of China in September 1990 and graduated in 1994. He then joined Air China, and in 2001 he was promoted to captain and after 26 November 2001, he officially flew as a captain. He had 6,497 hours of flying experience (including 6,287 hours on the Boeing 767) and had flown five times to Busan.^{[1]: 20–21} 
• First Officer Gao Lijie (age 29).^[b] First Officer (Co-Pilot) Gao Lijie entered the Airforce Academy in August 1989 and graduated in September 1993. He joined Air China and completed his first flight as first officer on 23 February 2002. Prior to becoming a first officer, he had flown twice to Busan. He had accumulated 5,295 hours of flying experience, with 1,215 of them on the Boeing 767.^{[1]: 21–22} 
• Second Officer Hou Xiangning (age 27).^[c] Second Officer (Third Pilot) Hou Xiangning attended the Civil Aviation Flying University of China from September 1993 to June 1997 and was hired by Air China in August 1997. Hou had no experience of landing in Busan. He had accumulated 1,775 hours of flying experience, including 1,078 hours on the Boeing 767.^{[1]: 22} 

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 execute a missed approach, about five seconds before impact, the captain did not react, nor did the first officer initiate the missed approach himself.

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

• All Nippon Airways.
• British Airways.
• Cathay Pacific.
• Emirates.
• Etihad Airways.
• Lufthansa.
• Qatar Airways.
• Singapore Airlines.

Sometimes, situationally, you may make a mistake … big or small. If you admit to it and get it sorted out, you’ll be a better person. That’s my take.”

• “You’re good-looking/hardworking for your race.”

• “I can’t see you when I turn off the lights.”

• Using terms that are, or have come to be, derogatory.

• “I’m not racist, I have a friend from an ethnic minority group. You’re being too sensitive.”

• Gripping your child's hand tighter or pulling him or her away when passing someone of a different race.