At Christchurch airport on the night of the Erebus disaster, US Air Force Lockheed C-141A Starlifter pilot Major Bruce Gumble describes losing contact with Flight TE901.
Transcript
Major Bruce Gumble: We were about 40 minutes behind the 901 Flight going into McMurdo and we'd been in touch with him by radio because we wanted to make sure that our flight paths didn't interfere with one other as he came back out of the area.
We followed essentially the same route. We descended below the clouds for our landing at McMurdo and we hadn't heard from him in some time and there was beginning to be some suspicion that something might have gone wrong. So we took a look around as we went in. We saw nothing and as we left McMurdo again we took on extra fuel to allow us to remain in the area at low altitude and search for some time. We saw nothing at all in any area that we thought might've been a likely place for the aircraft to be. There were also two C-130s and a couple of helicopters searching the area when we left. We would've liked to have stayed but our fuel wouldn't permit it. We had to come on back here.
The weather was partly cloudy. The bases were at approximately 5000 ft, tops at around 16,000. Rather warm for down there, only minus 4 degrees centigrade. Nearly a summer day and not much wind.
1st reporter: How easy would it be for a plane to land on the ice?
Major Bruce Gumble: Well we do it intentionally when we go down there. Of course it's a prepared runway; they grade the snow off it for us. But in many places the ice will support the weight of an airplane. It's not easy but it can be done.
The last radio contact that we had was just prior to that. His last transmission I believe was to McMurdo approach control.
2nd reporter: Was there any indication that anything was wrong at that stage?
Major Bruce Gumble: We heard no such indication, no.
US Air Force Lockheed C-141A Starlifter pilot Major Bruce Gumble at Christchurch airport on the night of the Erebus disaster
Part of: Hearing the news
Sound file: Radio New Zealand Sound Archives Ngā Taonga Kōrero. Any re-use of this audio is a breach of copyright. To request a copy of the recording, contact Sound Archives Ngā Taonga Kōrero. Reference: News highlights compilation, 1963-1988, CD Two, track 1.
Image: still shot from Erebus Disaster: Lookout.
