Mount Erebus Disaster Anniversary Air New Zealand was provided for Mentour Aviation by Travel Radar – Home of Aviation News. The remains of the aircraft still lie on the slopes of Mt Erebus. This Disaster did not occur in New Zealand but the aircraft that crashed was a New Zealand company, Koru airlines. Moreover, and not to put too fine a point on it, the Erebus crash dealt a severe blow to an airline which, essentially, was run as a government department and whose sole registered shareholder was the Prime Minister of New. However at this year’s anniversary the chairwoman Therese Walsh offered a full apology as did Prime Minster Ardern on behalf of the Government. Mt Erebus, the world’s southernmost active volcano, casts its long shadow over Ross Island and McMurdo Sound. In 2009 the airline apologised for its behaviour in the aftermath of the disaster, but not for the accident itself. The disaster and the bitterness surrounding the subsequent inquiries and legal disputes had an enormous effect on the confidence and innocence of New Zealand. Mahon’s report also accused management of Air New Zealand of a conspiracy to cover-up, but this was later rejected. Mahon found that the descent was explained by an approval to descend below 6 000′ if authorised by air traffic control at the US McMurdo Sound base. The tail section of an Air New Zealand DC10 plane is seen after it crashed into Mount Erebus in Antarctica in 1979.New Zealand Archives via AAP. The doomed flight, filled with happy tourists keen to. Public outrage prompted a further enquiry-the Mahon Inquiry- in 1981 which cleared the crew, laying blame on the airline for altering the fight plan and-crucially-not advising the crew of TE901. The tragic Mount Erebus Disaster, which happened 40 years ago this week, is one of the worst peacetime disasters in New Zealand’s history. The initial enquiry into the disaster concluded that the pilots were to blame for the accident, primarily for descending below the MSA. Six seconds later, the aircraft hit the ground at an elevation of 1 467′. Although go-around power was applied, it was too late. ‘Sector white out’ conditions led the crew into believing that the mountainside they saw approaching was the Ross Ice Shelf rather than the slopes of the volcano.Īt 12:49 pm the cockpit voice recorder captured the warnings from the ground proximity warning system as the aircraft passed through 500 feet. The aircraft descended to 2000′ in contravention of the MSA. In addition, they breached the minimum safety altitude (MSA) of 16 000′ on approach to the area and 6 000′ south of the mountain. Labour MP Marja Lubeck - a former flight attendant, union president and E tū Head of Aviation - will attend the service on behalf of the government.Į tū says it also remembers today the five Kiwi aviation workers who died in 2008 when their Air New Zealand A320 crashed off the coast of Perpignan, France.In the preparation for the flight a mistake was made resulting in coordinates being entered into the aircraft’s INS navigation system differing for the approved route flown previously what had before been a safe descent to the east now led directly over Mt. "The event is particularly poignant this year, as we consider the upheaval and thousands of job losses for aviation workers as a result of the pandemic.” Townsend says a small gathering of about 20-30 people is expected to attend the service, including friends and whānau of those who lost their lives, as well as current crew. The one-minute silence at 1.49pm will mark the moment of impact when passengers and crew on Air New Zealand flight TE901 lost their lives in the tragedy on the slopes of Mt Erebus in Antarctica 41 years ago.Ī wreath-laying ceremony will be held at the crew memorial garden near Auckland Airport in Māngere this afternoon. The Mount Erebus disaster occurred on 28 November 1979 when Air New Zealand Flight 901 (TE-901) flew into Mount Erebus on Ross Island, Antarctica, killing all. Maria Collins, the wife of Captain Jim Collins, the pilot of Flight TE901, told the media that she still hoped to clear her husband's name. But for many this apology did not go far enough. “Today marks a day when our national airline, the nation, and the families of those aboard, suffered a great tragedy," says Dayna Townsend, an E tū union organiser. On 23 October 2009, Air New Zealand CEO Rob Fyfe apologised to those the airline had let down in the aftermath of the tragedy. The union representing aviation workers has invited Kiwis to join in observing a minute's silence this afternoon in remembrance of the 237 passengers and 20 crew lost in Air New Zealand’s Mt Erebus disaster 41 years ago today.
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