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 Erebus tragedy is remembered for the terrible loss of life, the demands of the recovery operation and the debate that raged over who or what was to blame.

This timeline lists New Zealand’s 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

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

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.

Flight TE901 was classed as a domestic excursion flight, so passenger documentation was less rigorous than it would have been on an international flight. Some families had not known that their relative was on the flight.

Few of those involved in the recovery and identification of victims from the Erebus crash could have been truly prepared for the task ahead.

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.

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.

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

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 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.

Recovery party accommodation consisted of tents erected close to the debris of the Mt Erebus disaster.

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

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.

Members of the Mt Erebus disaster identification team at Auckland mortuary