1979 — Nov 28, Air New Zealand sightseeing crash, Mount Erebus, Antarctica–24US of 257

–24  Erebus.co.nz. The Erebus Story. “Roll of Remembrance.”

–21  AP. “Navigation error…in Antarctic crash.” Lawrence Journal-World, KS, 11-29-1979, 2.

 

Narrative Information

 

Christchurch City Libraries: “On 28 November 1979, Air New Zealand Flight TE901 crashed into the slopes of Mt Erebus in Antarctica while on a sightseeing flight to the continent. All the 237 passengers and 20 crew on board were killed. The crash remains the worst civilian disaster in New Zealand’s history….

 

“Captain Jim Collins and his co-pilot Greg Cassin had not flown the Antarctic flight before, but the flight was considered to be straightforward and they both were experienced pilots…. On the morning of 28 November Collins and Cassin entered the series of latitude and longitude co-ordinates into the aircraft computer.[1] However, they did not know that two of the co-ordinates had been changed earlier that morning. When these incorrect co-ordinates were entered into the computer, they changed the flight path of the aircraft 45 kilometers to the east.

 

“At 12:30pm Flight 901 was about 70 kilometres from McMurdo Station. Permission was given by the McMurdo radio communications centre to descend to 3050 metres and proceed “visually”. Air safety regulations were against dropping lower than a height of 1830 metres even under good weather conditions, but Collins believed the plane was flying over low, flat ground. Other pilots regularly flew low over the area to give their passengers a better view.

 

“At 12.45pm Collins advised McMurdo Centre he was dropping further to 610 metres. At this point he locked onto the computerized navigational system, but Flight 901 was not where either McMurdo Centre or the crew thought it was. The change in the two co-ordinates had put Flight 901 on a path not across the flat ground of McMurdo Sound, but across Lewis Sound and towards the 3794 meter-high active volcano, Mount Erebus.

 

“Because the air was clear and beneath the cloud layer, the white of the ice blended with the white of the mountain, with no contrast to show the sloping up of the land – a whiteout. At 12:49pm the deck altitude device began to blare a warning but there was no time for Collins to save the situation from disaster. Six seconds later Flight 901 hit the side of Mount Erebus and disintegrated….” (Christchurch City Libraries. Mount Erebus air disaster (website). Accessed 7-18-2017.)

 

Newspaper

 

Nov 29: “Christchurch, New Zealand (AP) — The New Zealand airliner that carried 257 persons to their deaths in the Antarctic was on the wrong side of the volcano it hit, and the pilot apparently was to blame, the director of the recovery operation said today. ‘It would seem there has been a substantial error in navigation by the pilot,’ said Roy Thomason, chief of the Antarctic division of New Zealand’s Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. ‘The plane was basically on the wrong side of the mountain. It crashed on the northeast side of Mount Erebus. It should have been passing the mountain on the northwest side.’

 

“The DC-10 was on a sightseeing trip along the Antarctic Coast when it crashed Wednesday [Nob 28], killing all aboard, including 21 Americans. Thomson said he could almost certainly rule out the possibility of structural or mechanical failure….

 

“Three New Zealand mountaineers were lowered to the site today by a U.S. Navy helicopter. They said the plane apparently exploded when it crashed only 1,500 feet up the 12,400-foot volcano, which slopes at a 35-degree angle….The mountaineers reported no survivors among the 20 crew and 237 passengers, who included John Greenleaf Houghton, 39, an associate professor at the University of Nevada who specialized in the study of arctic climate. He was on a year’s sabbatical at New Zealand’s Otago University….

 

“Erebus is on Ross Island, off the Antarctic coast 2,000 miles south of New Zealand. A low-altitude swing past the volcano was part of the 11-hour round trip from Auckland, New Zealand, to the bottom of the world and back….The weather at the time was clear with light clouds….” (AP. “Navigation error…in Antarctic crash.” Lawrence Journal-World, KS, 11-29-1979, 2.)

 

U.S. Fatalities

(Erebus.co.nz. The Erebus Story. “Roll of Remembrance.”)

 

  1. Aisenman, Lleone Margaret.
  2. Barnick, Kay.
  3. Barnick, Marion Ruth.
  4. Blair, Patricia Adele.
  5. Burckhalter, Lucile Clark.
  6. Corey, Constance, Dr.
  7. Duff, Helen Dora.
  8. Ferrell, Jean.
  9. Hance, Florence
  10. Houghton, John Greenleaf.
  11. Jahn, Ernest Adalbert.
  12. Jahn, Isabel.
  13. Klassovity, Paul Anthony.
  14. Klensch, Carl Robert.
  15. Lake, Mary Louise.
  16. Lies, Michael Ralph.
  17. Magnell, Muriel.
  18. Magnell, Theodore James.
  19. Mason, Robert.
  20. Ruden, Karl.
  21. Sheppard, George M.
  22. Steel, Ralph Augustus.
  23. Thompson, Billie Tadlock.
  24. Thompson, Henry Ford.

 

Sources

 

Associated Press. “Navigation error blamed in Antarctic crash.” Lawrence Journal-World, KS, 11-29-1979, p. 2. Accessed 10-7-2016 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/us/kansas/lawrence/lawrence-journal-world/1979/11-29/page-2?tag

 

Christchurch City Libraries. Mount Erebus air disaster (website). Accessed 7-18-2017. Accessed 7-18-2017 at: https://my.christchurchcitylibraries.com/erebus/

 

Erebus.co.nz. The Erebus Story. The Loss of TE901 (website). 2009. Accessed 7-18-2017 at:  http://www.erebus.co.nz/

 

 

 

 

 

[1] A detailed explanation can be found on The Erebus Story website — “The Erebus Flight Path Controversy” page.