40 years ago today: TE901 - the Erebus disaster

nuuumannn said:

On 28 Novermber 1979, Air New Zealand McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 ZK-NZP, operating as Flight TE901 flew into the side of Mt Erebus in Antarctica, with the loss of 257 lives. It shocked our small country then and to this day. It remains the worst man made disaster on the continent.

Air New Zealand Flight 901 - Wikipedia

This small clip, all 25 seconds of it was taken on board moments before the aircraft hit the mountain, and was recovered from the crash site.


This is the aircraft's flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder.

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nuuumannn said:

Its a complex one. So many factors that happened made it a minefield to try and make sense of. During Human Factors training for work, we examine a few accidents and incidents but Erebus is largely left alone because of the complexities of the situation. "A malevolent trick of the Polar Light", was how Justice Mahon described what happened in one sentence.

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nuuumannn said:

MiTasol, I'm not taking sides on this. It is a contentious issue among many people and the point of my post was to remember the incident, not debate the vagaries of the official enquiry or its outcomes. I work in the aviation industry in this country - there are lots of opinions on it, and I've heard most of them. I have read many books on the subject and have my thughts on it, but this isn't the place where I'd choose to voice those.

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