Mount Erebus Disaster (Air New Zealand Flight 901) - DISASTER BREAKDOWN

This video went out on my Patreon In November 1979, an Air New Zealand passenger plane crashed on the continent of Antarctica. the lives of everyone on board were lost in the disaster. A DC10 collided with Mount Erebus on Antarctica's Ross Island. Why did Air New Zealand flight 901 crash in Antarctica? What lead up to the disaster?

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[DisasterBreakdown]

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[MS-Borjarnon]

Sneakily changing the waypoints at night without telling them really sounds like how a character in a paperback murder-mystery novel would kill someone.

[kristita_]

How horrible that the pilot was maligned by his airline, when he was following a procedure that had been established and followed so frequently before. I learned something new about this disaster today; thanks for another wonderful production.

[sgfannz]

New Zealander here who lived thru this and lost 2 people I know on the flight. One passenger and one cabin
crew. I worked with his wife and on a previous flight saw all the photos he took. so tragic. I still remember getting dressed to the news the next day and listening to the list of passengers and crew lost hearing their names and crying, then having to continue getting dressed and go to work. Most new Zealanders knew someone on the flight and we all felt devastated and furious with Air NZ in the aftermath. Full sympathy with the pilot and his family. I was disgusted by it but the truth did come out in NZ. We all watched it and once we knew about the flight change it all made sense. No way was its the pilots fault. They werent where they were supposed to be. My workmate lost her husband and her kids their dad. the kids coped by playacting smashing planes into a mountain in their sandpit. i still cry remembering her telling me that. Lost contact with them over the years with job changes, Just hope all worked out for them as a family, They still in my thoughts even today. Her husbands body was recognisable and intact, the damage internal, All I could do was hug her and tell her I cared. She was still in shock. christmas presents under the tree for someone who wouldnt return. I will never forget the accident or them even tho life goes on and we lose contact over time. love u You know who you are xxxx. I will never forgive Air NZ for their part in this and their attempt to blame the pilot for their mistake. I dont think Air NZ ever regained the trust or love of the public again after this. we all understand mistakes can be made but to try and blame the pilot for their changes is unforgivable. Would have had more respect for them to have stood up and admitted their error. That would be forgivable.

[jarvo]

My great uncle was on this flight. I remember finding out when i was young that i was named after him. I was born just under a year after the crash. He loved his travels from the stories i got told when i was young. R.I.P to all those lives that were lost that day.

[PsychoKat]

How unfair of the airline to pin this on the pilots, when they didn't prepare them properly! I would love a followup video, too.

[TillyOrifice]

It might be worth noting, since the video doesn't make this clear, that the aircraft was not flying in cloud immediately before the accident. The scary thing about the phenomenon of sector whiteout is that it can render a mountain invisible even in clear air.

[gabriellourenco]

...It made famous the phrase: "An orchestrated litany of lies"...

[ellicel]

I would also love to hear more about the aftermath. I can’t believe the government sided with the airline and allowed those poor pilots to bear the whole of the responsibility

[Mochrie]

An air tour of the Antarctic sounds like a one-in-a-lifetime trip, but I'm not sure I'd do it now learning of this disaster. What a tragedy for those poor tourists and cabin crew.

[SarahlabyrinthLHC]

I knew someone who was on the flight (it was a reward for her doing well in a school exam), also knew a person who worked at Air NZ who worked out the flight's fuel requirements, his work was investigated in case he had not ordered enough fuel but all was found to be in order) and a member of my family was in the body recovery and identification team and worked for six weeks trying to piece bodies together to be returned to their loved ones. It was a terrible time for him. This disaster is deeply etched into the souls of New Zealanders.

[mistyblues]

Yes please do a deeper dive into this one if possible, it's a really interesting crash. The investigating judge's opinion that Air New Zealand's testimony was "an orchestrated litany of lies" is still well-known in NZ today.

[edward]

The judge in the commission of enquiry pulled no punches when he described the attempted cover up as "an orchestrated littany of lies" - strong man, strong judge

[j.ace.]

Every time I watch docu’s on this disaster I come to the same conclusion.. that the flight path was changed last minute and that the pilots that’ve never flown there before were required much more than they were able or had been taught about the path & landscape

[heavenlyscents]

My dad was at Scott base with NZDF when this happened, I was only 7, he was one of the first search and recovery team up there, I still have the original photos of the crash site that he had taken.

[brandoncooper-barnett]

Not far from where I live is a house currently falling down that was owned by a family on this flight. It has been abandoned ever since.

[scotthughes]

My friend was working on plane until 1. Am that morning. He said it had just come out of extensive maintemence, so obvious nothing mechanical was involved from onset. He said it was surreal to see this beautiful bird he had been on hours before smashed into a million pieces.

[methanfeminist]

i’m from new zealand and thank you for making this video. everyone has heard about this disaster but not everyone knows the details.

[DarkJediPrincess]

I’d love to see a video on more of the aftermath of this flight! Go for it!

[Nobilangelo]

They reprogrammed the plane to fly at the mountain, failed to tell the pilot, then tried to cover up what they had done. And because of whiteout the pilot could not see that he had been put on a collision course with a high mountain. He trusted his instruments and his briefing, thinking they coincided, as they should have, but his instruments had been changed. The judge that presided over the subsequent enquiry, Justice Mahon, saw through the cover-up and said he had been subjected to 'an orchestrated litany of lies.' The then management of Air New Zealand hated that, of course, said he had no right to say it, and mounted a case against him. But it was obvious that he was right. The big question is why did they reset the course? They had trained the pilot for a safe course over the sea, then in the middle of the night changed it to an unsafe one, headed for a mountain. Why? It was bad enough to change it, it was worse to do it in the middle of the night, it was shocking not to tell the crew what they had done. Captain Collins was a very careful pilot; he did not deserve this.