Air New Zealand’s DC-10, flight 901 departed Auckland Airport on the morning of November 28th 1979. On board were 257 passengers, including 20 crew members. The flight was to fly to Antarctica, to show those on board the Antarctic terrain. By 12pm was in Antarctica airspace and in contact with ‘Mac Centre’ (the air traffic control centre at McMurdo Station, managed by the United States Navy) and the ‘Ice Tower’ (another traffic control centre located at Williams Field). At 12.45pm Greg Cassin radioed Mac Centre to inform that they were at 6000 ft and about to descend to 2000 ft in VMC (visual meteorological conditions). At 12.49pm, flight 901 crashed into Mt Erebus. All on board were killed.
By 2pm, there had been silence from flight 901 for over an hour. Those who were operating the flight from the ground began to get worried. Air New Zealand was advised to begin search and rescue operations for the plane. Family and friends of the plane’s passengers began arriving at 7pm-the plane’s planned arrival time-and were told the plane was running late, however, it was soon obvious that something had happened. TVNZ and other news stations started broadcasting special bulletins, with news of the missing plane. By 1:15 am, Air New Zealand confirmed that the plane had crashed, and the wreckage spotted at Mt Erebus looked like it had no survivors.
On the 29th of November, the first recovery teams departed from Christchurch, with more following by the 2nd of December. The investigation and recovery operations were delayed due to bad weather, but by the 10th of December, the Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) had recovered most of the victims (it was later found that all died from serious injuries, most likely sustained from the impact of the crash, rather than Antarctic conditions), and all vital information had been retrieved from the wreckage. However, there was still month’s worth of investigations left, including identifying bodies, and finding the cause(s) of the crash.
By 2pm, there had been silence from flight 901 for over an hour. Those who were operating the flight from the ground began to get worried. Air New Zealand was advised to begin search and rescue operations for the plane. Family and friends of the plane’s passengers began arriving at 7pm-the plane’s planned arrival time-and were told the plane was running late, however, it was soon obvious that something had happened. TVNZ and other news stations started broadcasting special bulletins, with news of the missing plane. By 1:15 am, Air New Zealand confirmed that the plane had crashed, and the wreckage spotted at Mt Erebus looked like it had no survivors.
On the 29th of November, the first recovery teams departed from Christchurch, with more following by the 2nd of December. The investigation and recovery operations were delayed due to bad weather, but by the 10th of December, the Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) had recovered most of the victims (it was later found that all died from serious injuries, most likely sustained from the impact of the crash, rather than Antarctic conditions), and all vital information had been retrieved from the wreckage. However, there was still month’s worth of investigations left, including identifying bodies, and finding the cause(s) of the crash.
