Erebus
The Mount Erebus Disaster
On the 28th of November in 1979, the Air New Zealand DC10 flight 901 crashed into the side of Mount Erebus in Ross Island, Antarctica, resulting in the instant death of all on board. The crash became “widely regarded as New Zealand’s worst air accident.”
One of the most memorable photos from the aftermath of the Mt Erebus plane crash showing the Koru symbol of Air New Zealand planes.
What happened?
On the 28th of November 1979, Air New Zealand flight 901 took off from Auckland airport. It was taking 237 excited passengers on the 11 hour long sight seeing flight of a lifetime to see one of the most incredible natural places on earth - Antarctica. The plane would fly through McMurdo Sound to show the passengers the spectacular environment of Antarctica, before heading back to Auckland. While Captain Jim Collins
The first picture shown in the slideshow given to passengers on board the DC10
and his co-captain Greg Cassin were experienced pilots, neither had flown to Antarctica before, but the ‘straightforward’ flight was seen as easy enough. A few weeks before, a briefing session had taken place, outlining past flight plans, and they were given co-ordinates that were to be entered into the computerised navigation system so the plane could fly on autopilot through McMurdo Sound.
The DC10 on a past flight
As the DC10 approached Antarctica at 12.45pm, the pilots let McMurdo Centre know they would descend to a lower altitude of 610 metres as many pilots often did in this flat, low ground area, in order to give their well paying customers a better view of the sights they had set out to see. This custom was against air safety regulations that said to go no lower than 1830 metres. The navigational system did have co-ordinates locked in, but the coordinates were set 45km east of where the pilots believed they were actually flying. Instead of flying over low terrain Air New Zealand flight 901 was on a path across Lewis Sound which would fly the
On the 28th of November in 1979, the Air New Zealand DC10 flight 901 crashed into the side of Mount Erebus in Ross Island, Antarctica, resulting in the instant death of all on board. The crash became “widely regarded as New Zealand’s worst air accident.”
One of the most memorable photos from the aftermath of the Mt Erebus plane crash showing the Koru symbol of Air New Zealand planes.
What happened?
On the 28th of November 1979, Air New Zealand flight 901 took off from Auckland airport. It was taking 237 excited passengers on the 11 hour long sight seeing flight of a lifetime to see one of the most incredible natural places on earth - Antarctica. The plane would fly through McMurdo Sound to show the passengers the spectacular environment of Antarctica, before heading back to Auckland. While Captain Jim Collins
The first picture shown in the slideshow given to passengers on board the DC10
and his co-captain Greg Cassin were experienced pilots, neither had flown to Antarctica before, but the ‘straightforward’ flight was seen as easy enough. A few weeks before, a briefing session had taken place, outlining past flight plans, and they were given co-ordinates that were to be entered into the computerised navigation system so the plane could fly on autopilot through McMurdo Sound.
The DC10 on a past flight
As the DC10 approached Antarctica at 12.45pm, the pilots let McMurdo Centre know they would descend to a lower altitude of 610 metres as many pilots often did in this flat, low ground area, in order to give their well paying customers a better view of the sights they had set out to see. This custom was against air safety regulations that said to go no lower than 1830 metres. The navigational system did have co-ordinates locked in, but the coordinates were set 45km east of where the pilots believed they were actually flying. Instead of flying over low terrain Air New Zealand flight 901 was on a path across Lewis Sound which would fly the