Air New Zealand Douglas DC-10-30 and TE901

28 November 1979. The darkest day in New Zealand history.

That was the day that the infamous TE901 crash occurred on Mount Erebus, Antarctica.

I'll keep this brief, on 28 November 1979, TE901, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 took off from Auckland bound for Antarctica on a sightseeing tour, before heading back to Auckland via a 45 minute refuelling stop in Christchurch. Weeks prior to the crash, a coordinate typing error occurred, meaning that instead of the usual route that goes directly above Mount Erebus, it would take the plane 25km west of Mount Erebus, over McMurdo Sound. Most of the last 13 flights had flown this accidental flight path, which did not correspond to the approved route. However, while the pilots of TE901 thought that they were above McMurdo Sound, they were actually heading straight for Mount Erebus. By the time they realized, it was too late.

All 237 passengers and 20 crewmembers tragically died. There was no hope for any survivors, and even if there were any survivors somehow from the plane crash itself, there would have been very little chance of survival thanks entirely to the harsh weather conditions that Antarctica is infamous for. This tragedy was the deadliest disaster in New Zealand history, and evidently the deadliest aviation accident in New Zealand history, even over 40 years later.

The main rescue mission was dubbed Operation OVerdue, and it lasted until 9 December 1979. Other rescue missions took many weeks to complete. In the years that followed the accident, Air New Zealand sold off the DC-10 fleet and replaced them with brand new Boeing 747-200s.

Most Kiwis knew/know someone onboard, or at least knew/know someone who knew/knows someone who perished onboard TE901. One of the people who died was Sir Edmund Hillary's climbing partner Peter Mulgrew, and Hillary was actually scheduled to be onboard the fatal flight, as he had been a sightseeing tour guide on a few of the sightseeing flights in the past, but due to scheduling issues, he could not make it onboard that fateful flight.

May all who died onboard TE901 rest in peace.

ZK-NZP: 1974 McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 | Air New Zealand | Currently: crashed into Mount Erebus, Antarctica as TE901 on 28/11/1979, killing all 257 passengers and crew onboard

You can read a more comprehensive text about TE901 here: https://en.wikipedia...Erebus_disaster

Wow, that was a bit dark, aye? Next post will be more positive!