#AIR NEW ZEALAND MT EREBUS CRASH SERIES#

Flight 901 set on collision course with Mount ErebusĪt 12.45pm Collins advised McMurdo Centre he was dropping further to 610 metres. Other pilots regularly flew low over the area to give their passengers a better view. Permission was given by the McMurdo radio communications centre to descend to 3050 metres and proceed “visually”.Īir 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. Flight 901 given permission to fly lowĪt 12:30pm Flight 901 was about 70 kilometres from McMurdo Station. When these incorrect co-ordinates were entered into the computer, they changed the flight path of the aircraft 45 kilometres to the east. However, they did not know that two of the co-ordinates had been changed earlier that morning.

#AIR NEW ZEALAND MT EREBUS CRASH SERIES#

On the morning of 28 November Collins and Cassin entered the series of latitude and longitude co-ordinates into the aircraft computer. With these co-ordinates entered into its computerised navigation system, the plane could fly automatically to its destination. The plan gave co-ordinates for the trip to Antarctica and across McMurdo Sound. Nineteen days earlier the pilots had attended a briefing session where they were shown the printouts of a flight plan used by previous flights to the Antarctic. Incorrect flight co-ordinates entered in plane's navigation system These sightseeing flights had been operating since February 1977, and took the passengers on a low-flying sweep over McMurdo Sound, returning to New Zealand on the same day.Ĭaptain 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 board were 237 passengers and 20 crew, looking forward to the 11-hour return sightseeing flight to Antarctica. Erebus, opens a new window by Pat Shepherd, opens a new window / CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 NZ, opens a new windowĪt 8:20 am on 28 November, 1979, Air New Zealand Flight 901 left Auckland Airport. The crash remains the worst civilian disaster in New Zealand’s history.

All the 237 passengers and 20 crew on board were killed. 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.

Air new zealand mt erebus crash