Mt Erebus

[Hesi]

42 years ago today that the Air NZ DC10 flew into Mt Erebus, with the loss of all onboard

Most people can remember where they were the afternoon the news started coming in that contact had been lost with the plane

[Gordy]

I was about to start a fling with the girl in the flat next door to mine. Young and single, those were the days.

[Double R]

I remember, I think he was the Air NZ head, Morrie Davis, or it might have been Davies, coming on TV and explaining the plane was missing, and the despair and heart break of his expressions, and it was such a shock to everyone, but he fronted up, and continued to do so in the days ahead. I will never forget that.

I worked with a bloke who was to be on that flight, and woke up in the morning of the flight feeling unwell, so both himself and his wife did not go.

Edited November 27, 2021 by Double R

[Gordy]

I also remember after the enquiry the report had the wording, which I have never forgotten  ‘ orchestrated litany of lies”

[Hesi]

That was Justice Peter Mahon's description as part of his Royal Commission report.

Ron Chippendale's report had said pilot error

Peter Mahon contradicted that saying it was Air NZ's fault in changing the co-ordinates, which they then tried to cover up and led to Mahon's infamous line

Privy Council wiped the line

Destroyed a few careers and still debate over it today.  Even the memorial is still causing controversy

[Globederby19]

I worked at WGTN airport cleaning the aircraft as my moonlight job, and the engineers demonstrated  the GPW (ground proximity warning) on one of those aircraft which they could just get into the hangar. It went something like WOOOP WOOOP  WOOOP  PULL UP PULL UP, but during the Erebus disaster it only gave the pilots something like  15 sec warning. They had to change the time  lapse to give more reaction time, and one wonders if they ever thought of "white out "conditions  when designing the Aircraft.  I don't think it was ever made public , kept in house after the investigation.

[PWJ]

I was at Pascal Street Stadium, Palmerston North coaching and reffing basketball. Was sort of surreal - this sort of thing just didn't seem to happen to Kiwis.

I worked with a guy for a few years who was on the body retrieval team. The truth of the aftermath was never made public.