Pages tagged with: air transport

Only one portion of the fuselage of the Air New Zealand DC-10 remained intact on the icy slopes of Mt Erebus.

On 28 November 1979, 237 passengers and 20 crew were killed when Air New Zealand Flight TE901 crashed into the side of Mt Erebus, Antarctica. The tragedy was followed by a demanding recovery operation and a raging debate over who or what was to blame

12 February 2009 marked the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the SS Penguin, NZ's worst 20th century maritime disaster. The disasters timeline provides a quick overview of our worst natural disasters, transport accidents, fires, mining accidents and other tragedies that have caused major loss of life.

The Royal plane takes off from Paraparaumu airport

There is evidence he was working on ideas for powered flight from 1899 and had built his first two-cylinder petrol engine by 1902

Air New Zealand promoted its sightseeing flights with the slogan 'Antarctica: the new adventure'.

The Erebus disaster was mainly caused by an unfortunate, late change in flight path and the white-out conditions at Antarctica.

Royal New Zealand Air Force Corsairs off Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, 1944

A team of New Zealand Police officers and a Mountain Face Rescue Team were immediately dispatched to the scene of the Erebus disaster.

New Zealand soldiers alongside their truck which was damaged by a German air attack

With the death of so many people, it is not surprising that the investigations into the tragedy became a source of great debate and controversy.

Listen to a description of the arrival and landing of the first flight to Antarctica on 20 December 1955.

Memorial cross on Mount Erebus. The cross is located approximately 3 km south-east of the 1979 crash site.

The first long distance flights into Antarctica from the outside world left from New Zealand on 20 December 1955.

Cross to the victims of the Erebus disaster erected by recovery workers in Antarctica

Recovery work among the debris of Air New Zealand Flight TE901 on Mt Erebus continued even in terrible weather conditions.

Looking downhill to Lewis Bay sea ice through the wreckage of Air New Zealand Flight TE901 and a maze of body location flags

Crash site of Air New Zealand Flight TE901 on the lower slopes of Mt Erebus – photo taken two days after the crash

Map showing the flight path of Air New Zealand Flight TE901 on 28 November 1979

In this page from Air New Zealand's The Antarctic experience brochure, Mt Erebus – the 'sentinel of McMurdo' – is clearly visible from the DC-10's cockpit.

Tony Taylor, professor of clinical psychology at Victoria University, describes the effects of the disaster on police.

Members of the recovery party stand in front of the wreckage of the Air New Zealand DC-10 on the slopes of Mt Erebus, Antarctica.

The recovery operation on Mount Erebus was hampered by the constantly changing weather.

The bodies of the victims of Air New Zealand Flight TE901 were flown by Royal New Zealand Air Force Hercules aircraft to Whenuapai Air Base in Auckland.

This police map shows the location of Air New Zealand Flight TE901's crash site on Mt Erebus, Antarctica, in 1979.

Wayne Mowat interviews Superintendent Jim Morgan, 11 March 1988, about the police experience on Erebus.

By the time the second flight carrying bodies from the Erebus disaster crash site arrived on 10 December 1979 the pathology teams tasked with determining cause of death had completed post mortem examinations on the first 114 bodies

The wreckage of Air New Zealand Flight TE901 litters the slopes of Mt Erebus.

Dead German assault troops lie beside a crashed glider

The tail of the DC-10 airliner remained largely intact and still shows the distinctive Air New Zealand koru symbol.

A member of the Erebus recovery team attends to the victim's personal effects, which are stored in plastic bags and awaiting transportation.