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The Mount Erebus disaster was a major aircraft accident involving Air New Zealand Flight 901 in 1979. The flight was a non-scheduled passenger transport service from Auckland International Airport in New Zealand to Antarctica and return. The service, for the purposes of Antarctic sightseeing, was operated with McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 aircraft and began in February 1977. It was the 14th such flight operated by Air New Zealand. 1979 is a common year starting on Monday. ...
Auckland International Airport is the largest and busiest international airport of New Zealand. ...
Biman Bangladesh Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-10 The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is a three-engined long-range airliner, with two engines mounted on underwing pylons and a third engine at the base of the vertical stabilizer. ...
February is the second month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ...
1977 was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1977 calendar). ...
Air New Zealand is a major scheduled passenger airline based in New Zealand. ...
Flight details
The flight was specifically designed and marketed as a unique sight-seeing experience, carrying an experienced Antarctic guide who would point out scenic features and landmarks using the aircraft public address system. Dignitaries such as Sir Edmund Hillary had acted as guides on previous flights. Indeed Hillary had been scheduled to act as the guide for this flight but had to cancel due to other commitments. The flight usually operated at about 85% of full capacity — the empty seats allowed passengers to more easily move about the cabin to observe external features. Edmund Hillary on the New Zealand 5 dollar note Sir Edmund Percival Hillary, KG, ONZ, KBE (born July 20, 1919) is a New Zealand mountaineer and explorer, most famous for the first successful climb of Mount Everest. ...
The accident On November 28, 1979, at 12:49pm NZDT, flight TE901 collided with Mount Erebus, Antarctica, killing all 237 passengers and 20 crew members. The flight that day was being operated by the DC-10 registered ZK-NZP, which was just under 5 years old. The aircraft altitude at the time of the collision was just 1465 feet (445 metres). November 28 is the 332nd day (333rd on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
1979 is a common year starting on Monday. ...
On November 2, 1868, New Zealand officially adopted a standard time to be observed nationally, and was perhaps the first country to do so. ...
A controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) describes an unintentional crash by an airworthy aircraft into the ground (usually a mountain), usually without prior knowledge or expectation. ...
Mount Erebus in Antarctica is the southernmost active volcano. ...
After radio contact was lost, McMurdo Station in Antarctica, who had been in radio contact with the flight, kept trying to contact it, and finally informed Air New Zealand headquarters in Auckland that communication with the aircraft had been lost. US search and rescue aircraft were put on standby. At 10:00pm NZDT, about thirty minutes after the DC-10 would have used the last of its fuel, the airline told reporters that it had to be assumed that the aircraft was lost. The wreckage was finally located about 1:00am NZDT by a United States Navy search aircraft. A scene at McMurdo Station McMurdo Station, located at 77° 51 South latitude, 166° 40 East longitude, sits on the southern tip of Ross Island in Antarctica, 2,200 miles (3,500 km) due south of New Zealand, and serves as the logistics hub for half the continent. ...
Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest urban area in New Zealand. ...
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations by or about: United States Wikinews has news related to this article: United States United States government Official website of the United States government - Gateway to governmental sites White House - Official site of the US President Senate. ...
Search and Rescue (acronym SAR) is an operation mounted by emergency services, often well-trained volunteers, to find someone believed to be in distress, lost, sick or injured either in a remote or difficult to access area, such as mountains, desert or forest (Wilderness search and rescue), or at sea...
The United States Navy (USN) is the branch of the United States armed forces responsible for naval operations. ...
The dead included 200 New Zealanders, 24 Japanese, 22 Americans, six British, two Canadians, one Australian, one French, and one Swiss. Forty four of the victims were not identified.
The accident is exceptional in that, to this day, controversy exists over the true cause of the accident, and in the amount of responsibility the airline and crew should assume. Public opinion also remains polarised.
The two opposing theories are listed below, together with their main points.
Accident inquiries
Official accident report The accident report compiled by the chief inspector of air accidents, Ron Chippindale, was released on 12 June 1980. It attributed blame to the decision of Captain Jim Collins to descend below the customary minimum altitude level, and continue at that height when the crew was unsure of the plane's position. The customary minimum prohibited descent below 6000 feet (1830 metres) even under good weather conditions, but a combination of factors led the captain to believe the plane was over low, flat ground, and previous Flight 901 pilots regularly flew low over the area to give passengers a better view. Ron Chippindale was the New Zealand Transport Accident Investigation Commissions Chief Inspector of Accidents from 1990 to 1998. ...
June 12 is the 163rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (164th in leap years), with 202 days remaining. ...
1980 is a leap year starting on Tuesday. ...
Mahon Inquiry Due to public demand, the New Zealand Government announced a further one-man Royal Commission of Inquiry into the accident, to be performed by Justice Peter Mahon. The New Zealand Parliament is the legislative body of the New Zealand government. ...
Mahon's report, released on April 27, 1981, cleared the crew of blame for the disaster. Justice Mahon said the single, dominant and effective cause was the changing of the aircraft's navigation computer co-ordinates to route the aircraft directly towards Mount Erebus, without the crew being advised. The new flight plan took the aircraft directly at the mountain, rather than along its flank. Due to whiteout conditions, the crew were unable to visually identify the mountain in front of them. Furthermore, they may have experienced a rare meterological phenomenon called sector whiteout which creates the visual illusion of a flat horizon far in the distance. Justice Mahon also found that the radio communications centre at McMurdo Station had authorised Captain Collins to descend to 1500 feet (450 metres), below the minimum safe level. April 27 is the 117th day of the year (118th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 248 days remaining. ...
1981 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Whiteout is a weather condition in which visibility is reduced by snow and diffuse lighting from overcast clouds. ...
A scene at McMurdo Station McMurdo Station, located at 77° 51 South latitude, 166° 40 East longitude, sits on the southern tip of Ross Island in Antarctica, 2,200 miles (3,500 km) due south of New Zealand, and serves as the logistics hub for half the continent. ...
Justice Mahon controversially claimed airline executives engaged in a conspiracy to whitewash the enquiry, covering up evidence and lying to investigators, famously accusing them of "an orchestrated litany of lies". Alternate uses: See Conspiracy (disambiguation) Conspiracy, in common usage, is the act of working in secret to obtain some goal, usually understood with negative connotations. ...
Privy Council appeal The Privy Council subsequently found that Justice Mahon, as Royal Commissioner, had acted in excess of his jurisdiction and contrary to natural justice regarding those allegations. In their judgement, delivered on 20 October 1983, the five Law Lords of the Privy Council dismissed the Commissioner's appeal and upheld the decision of the Court of Appeal, which set aside the costs order against the Airline, on the grounds that Mahon had committed clear breaches of natural justice. Aviation researcher John King wrote in his book New Zealand Tragedies, Aviation: Her Majestys Most Honourable Privy Council is a body of advisors to the British Sovereign. ...
October 20 is the 293rd day of the year (294th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 72 days remaining. ...
1983 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
John King is the name of several notable individuals, including: John King, 19th century Australian explorer John King, White House correspondent for CNN John William King, one of the murderers of James Byrd, Jr. ...
They demolished his case item by item, including Exhibit 164 which they said could not "be understood by any experienced pilot to be intended for the purposes of navigation" and went even further, saying there was no clear proof on which to base a finding that a plan of deception, led by the company's chief executive, had ever existed.
"Exhibit 164" refers to a photocopied diagram of McMurdo Sound showing a southbound flight path passing west of Ross Island and a northbound path passing the island on the east. The diagram didn't extend sufficiently far south to show where, how, or even if they joined, and left the two paths disconnected. Evidence had been given to the effect that the diagram had been included in the flight crew's briefing documentation. (See Mahon v. Air New Zealand (http://www.uniset.ca/other/css/1984AC808.html))
Legacy of the disaster The crash of flight TE901 remains New Zealand's second deadliest disaster after the Napier earthquake. The small size of New Zealand meant that nearly the entire population was affected by the disaster, personally or by association. At 10. ...
A wooden cross was erected above Scott Base to commemorate the accident. It was replaced in 1986 with an aluminium cross after the original was eroded by low temperatures, wind and moisture. Scott Base is a base in Antarctica, owned by New Zealand. ...
1986 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
General Name, Symbol, Number aluminium, Al, 13 Chemical series poor metals Group, Period, Block 13 (IIIA), 3, p Density, Hardness 2700 kg/m3, 2. ...
Almost all of the aircraft's fuselage and components still lie where they came to rest on the slopes of Mt. Erebus, under a layer of snow and ice. During warm periods when snow recedes, the wreckage is still visible from the air.
See also An aviation accident (as per the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board definition) is an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft which takes place between the time any person boards the aircraft with the intention of flight and all such persons have disembarked, and in which any person...
External links - Aviation Safety Network: Transcript of flight 901 (http://aviation-safety.net/investigation/cvr/transcripts/cvr_nz901.php)
- New Zealand Ministry of Transport Official Report parts [1] (http://www.taic.org.nz/aviation/79-139_section1.pdf) [2] (http://www.taic.org.nz/aviation/79-139_sections_2-7.pdf) [3] (http://www.taic.org.nz/aviation/79-139_figures1-5.pdf) [4] (http://www.taic.org.nz/aviation/79-139_annex_a-c.pdf) [5] (http://www.taic.org.nz/aviation/79-139_annex_d-h.pdf) [6] (http://www.taic.org.nz/aviation/79-139_annex_i-l.pdf) (PDF)
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