The actual geographical position for that co-ordinate was almost 30 nautical miles to the west. The error made by the flight planners was to give McMurdo Station a longitude co-ordinate that was more than two degrees out. ![]() This route was in distinct contrast to the usual military route which took a dogleg around the mountain by flying up McMurdo Sound along the western side of the island. It was direct to McMurdo Station, an American ice airstrip on the southern side of Ross Island and directly behind Mt Erebus when approached from the north. To begin with, the final leg of the route was unusual. The error was made by the company's flight planners when they compiled the official standardised plan. The first one had been made more than a year before, when Air New Zealand began its Antarctica service. It can be said that there were six distinct errors in the chain of events leading to this accident. The second inquiry, a Royal Commission, completely reversed the first finding and laid total blame on the company and its management practices. The first inquiry, conducted by the Air Accident Investigation Office of New Zealand's Ministry of Transport, found the cause of the accident to be pilot error. Following the accident, there were two separate inquiries into why this five year old, perfectly airworthy aeroplane crashed. In the early afternoon of 29th November, 1979, Air New Zealand flight 901, a DC-10 aircraft code named November Zulu Papa, on a scenic return flight to Antarctica, crashed into Mt Erebus, a 3,770 metre high, active volcano situated on Ross Island. Oddly enough, though it's about aviation, the teller of this amazing tale, this fascinating piece of sleuthing, is not an engineer, but an English teacher: Arthur Marcel from Queensland and the Queensland University of Technology, though he has, as you can tell, a deep interest in systems analysis, and systems failure.Īrthur Marcel: In this talk, I wish to use the story of a tragic aviation accident to illustrate a question for modern navigators. Other Government agencies, such as the Police, were also involved in undertaking the recovery operation and investigating the disaster and their records (mostly held in Auckland) also form part of the documentary evidence of this event.įor updates on our On This Day series and news from Archives New Zealand, follow us on Twitter twitter.Robyn Williams: Today, an intriguing story of compounded error, confusion and death. Records of the official air accident report, coroner’s report and the commission of enquiry into the crash are held in Archives New Zealand's Head Office in Wellington. These include memos from other nations offering their condolences at the loss of so many people and instructions from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on how to deal with questions relating to the Antarctic Treaty Resolution which related to Commercial Overflights in Antarctica.Ī/ViewFullItem.do?code=20762877 Other records displayed here are from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The full SITREP (as well as other unrestricted Antarctic Division records documenting the crash) can be viewed in our Christchurch reading room.Ī/ViewFullItem.do?code=19892861 It is one of many public archives from the Antarctic Division (now Antarctica New Zealand), whose records of the disaster include photographs of the crash scene, taped radio broadcasts of the search operation radio call logs diary entries, and files of correspondence. ![]() This document is the first page of a US Navy SITREP (SITuation REPort) from the day of the crash. The Americans at McMurdo Station had offered their full support for the operation and its success was heavily dependent on this help. In spite of the logistical difficulties the recovery task was completed by 10 December 1979. The responsibility for coordinating the difficult operation to recover the bodies in one of the most inhospitable places on Earth fell on the Christchurch based Antarctic Division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, which administered the research facility at Scott Base. At 12.49 pm on 28 November 1979 Flight TE901, a McDonnell Douglas DC10 carrying 20 crew and 237 passengers, crashed on the slopes of Mt Erebus. ![]() In February 1977, Air New Zealand began commercial flights over the Ross Dependency in Antarctica, the flights leaving from Auckland and refuelling in Christchurch on the return journey. Description US Navy SITREP from Mt Erebus Crash, 28 November 1979 (10952890923).jpg
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