Six Seconds to Survive: The Tragic Story of Air New Zealand Flight 901 and How an Airline Tried to Cover Up Facts
When an airline tried to cover up its own mistakes, an aircraft was doomed to crash in New Zealand’s worst aviation disaster.
The aircraft involved in the Mount Erebus disaster, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30; Source: Wikipedia
From dry and hot deserts to jungles that are home to a vast range of species, Earth has a lot of environments to offer. Yet the most unique one of these should be Antarctica, the frozen continent in the Southern Hemisphere.
The ice sheet that gives Antarctica its distinct appearance and coldest temperatures on Earth (which can get as low as –90°C) make it a unique world almost alien to us. Antarctica as an entity is also very special; while a number of countries have territorial claims, the continent is primarily directed at research. But it’s also tourism that drives humans to the icy realm.
As early as the 1920s, ships carried passengers to Antarctic waters, although these days large cruise ships aren’t allowed for landing in Antarctica anymore.
In the late 1970s, a new trend emerged: scenic flights. Australia and New Zealand are the primary countries for sightseeing flights to Antarctica as they both have gateway cities such as Christchurch and Hobart.
Qantas started operating sightseeing flights on February 13, 1977; two days later followed Air New Zealand. For Air New Zealand, the flights would take one route in particular: departing in Auckland and flying over the Antarctic Ross Island through McMurdo Sound and returning back to Auckland. Flights usually lasted about 12 hours.
Air New Zealand actively advertised the new program—justified, for a trip over Antarctica is something truly unique. The route over Ross Island would take the passengers past Mount Erebus, the second-highest volcano of the continent at a height of 3’800m (12’500ft).
But little did anyone know when scenic flights started that Mount Erebus would become the site of New Zealand’s worst aviation accident — this is the story of the Mount Erebus disaster and how a tiny error killed 257 people.
Mount Erebus; Source: AnOther Magazine
On the morning of November 28, 1979, 237 passengers were boarding a DC-10 in Auckland—but the flight wouldn’t be like any other; it would be a 12-hour long non-stop flight over Antarctica. It was an adventurous journey to tell friends and family about, and even though most of the passengers were from New Zealand, many more already had a long journey behind them just to get to New Zealand.
It would also be a first for Captain Jim Collins and First Officer Greg Cassin; only the flight engineer, Gordon Brooks, had previously been on a flight to Antarctica. And flying over Antarctica comes with challenges unique to the environment; ice fog is common during the winter and whiteout can easily trick one’s eyes.
What is whiteout? Whiteout is when a layer of uniform clouds overlies a white surface, like those covered in snow and ice. Unique diffused light conditions cause shadows to disappear and surfaces often appear flat, even when the terrain slopes up.
At eight thirty in the morning local time, the DC-10 departed Auckland. The trip to Antarctica would take four hours, then the passengers could enjoy the landmarks of the icy continent.
At first, the weather didn’t seem to play along, but the clouds eventually broke up so the passengers would actually be able to see Mount Erebus as the aircraft took them over McMurdo Sound; at least that was the plan.
The aircraft descended down to 2’000ft and the crew notified air traffic control (ATC) at 12:45 NZST for the last time. Everything seemed to go after plan—the aircraft was aligned with McMurdo Sound, Mount Erebus would appear to the left… but then, at 12:49PM the ground proximity warning system went off, alarming the pilots that they were too close to terrain.
Immediately sensing the danger, they attempted an escape manoeuvre by applying full power; but the aircraft was already doomed. Just six seconds later, the aircraft crashed into the side of Mount Erebus, instantly killing everyone. At the time of impact, the DC-10’s altitude was 1’467ft; Mount Erebus measures, as noted, about 12’500ft.
As the day grew into evening and friends and families were waiting in Auckland for the return of Flight 901, worry spread when the aircraft didn’t land as scheduled. Maybe a delay? But by the time 9PM came the aircraft would have already run out of fuel—and Air New Zealand informed the press that Flight 901 had disappeared.
The next morning came the news everyone dreaded: Flight 901 lay in debris on the side of Mount Erebus—all 237 passengers and 20 crew were dead.
The planned flight path of Flight 901 vs the actual flight path of Flight 901; Source: BBC
The main mission of the ensuing recovery effort was to bring as many of the victims back home as possible. For a week, teams camped in the icy Antarctica and worked full time to retrieve the remains of the passengers.
Lead inspector Jim Morgan recounted the horrors: “[T]he skua gulls were eating the bodies in front of us, causing us much mental anguish, as well as destroying the chances of identifying the corpses. We tried to shoo them away, but to no avail; we then threw flares, also to no avail. Because of this, we had to pick up all the bodies/parts that had been bagged and create 11 large piles of human remains around the crash site in order to bury them under snow to keep the birds off.”
Tragically enough, recovery teams were able to develop the film of cameras passengers carried on board, showing photos and videos of the passengers enjoying the sightseeing. Some of the photos were taken just moments before the crash.
Despite the sheer horror the recovery teams went through, they were able to collect all human remains and fly them back to New Zealand, where 213 of them were identified. The 44 unidentified remains were buried at Waikumete Cemetery in West Auckland and a funeral was held for them on February 22, 1980.
The victims’ names were engraved in a stone memorial and a cherry blossom tree was planted in memory of the 24 victims from Japan.
Half a year after the Mount Erebus disaster occurred, New Zealand presented its accident report, led by chief inspector of air accidents, Ron Chippindale. The report’s verdict was clear: the pilots were at fault. They descended to 2’000ft even though they shouldn’t have been allowed to go below 6’000ft—even in good weather.
The report was very controversial in the public; and so the government decided to appoint Peter Mahon to lead another inquiry into the crash. And what Mahon uncovered was shocking, including that Air New Zealand tried to cover up the facts.
Tail section of Flight 901 showing the vertical stabilizer and part of the DC-10's third engine; Source: New Zealand Geographic
The same day that Flight 901 took off for Antarctica, a navigational coordinate in the flight plan was changed. The fix stems from a small typing mistake dating all the way back to 1977 that would have directly taken the flight over Mount Erebus, 27 nautical miles east of McMurdo Sound.
However, nobody informed the crew of Flight 901 of the fix—and so they still had the erronous flight path. Additionally, the crew received clearance from ATC that they were allowed to descend to a lower altitude, a leniency that was outlined in preflight checklists.
According to Mahon’s report, the crew likely experienced whiteout, which hindered them at recognizing the towering mountain ahead of them.
The flight was doomed from the very beginning.
Yet the story for Air New Zealand Flight 901 stems from a deeply ingrained conspiracy involving Air New Zealand. The program with the sightseeing tours to Antarctica required not only experienced crews and a reliable aircraft, pilots also had to be made aware of the unique challenges that they faced in the Antarctic. Yet Air New Zealand never offered any training in Antarctic weather conditions.
During the inquest, Air New Zealand tried to cover up its mistakes and only selectively picked evidence. It was the final report that laid all this to light.
One of the reasons of Air New Zealand’s actions should be the fact that it’s the country’s flagship carrier, having close ties with the government. They clearly didn’t want their reputation to falter. And this is one of the reasons why 257 people lost their lives so tragically.
It took 40 years until the government offered a formal apology to the families of the victims.
To this day, when the snow melts in summer, a morbid picture paints itself on the side of Mount Erebus, where the debris of Flight 901 still rests. Due to the harsh environment and difficulty of transporting the pieces, most aircraft debris is still scattered where the DC-10 met its fatal end.
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