The fact that we all spent about a week camped in polar tents amid the wreckage and dead bodies, maintaining a 24-hour work schedule says it all. We split the men into two shifts (12 hours on and 12 off), and recovered with great effort all the human remains at the site. Many bodies were trapped under tons of fuselage and wings and much physical effort was required to dig them out and extract them.
Initially, there was very little water at the site and we had only one bowl between all of us to wash our hands in before eating. The water was black. In the first days on site, we did not wash plates and utensils after eating, but handed them on to the next shift because we were unable to wash them. I could not eat my first meal on site because it was a meat stew. Our polar clothing became covered in black human grease (a result of burns on the bodies).
We felt relieved when the first resupply of woollen gloves arrived because ours had become saturated in human grease, however, we needed the finger movement that wool gloves afforded, i.e., writing down the details of what we saw and assigning body and grid numbers to all body parts and labelling them. All bodies and body parts were photographed in situ by U.S. Navy photographers who worked with us. Also, U.S. Navy personnel helped us to lift and pack bodies into body bags, which was very exhausting work.
Later, the 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. To do this we had to scoop up the top layer of snow over the crash site and bury them, only later to uncover them when the weather cleared and the helos were able to get back on the site. It was immensely exhausting work.
After we had almost completed the mission, we were trapped by bad weather and isolated. At that point, NZPO2 and I allowed the liquor that had survived the crash to be given out and we had a party (macabre, but we had to let off steam).
We ran out of cigarettes, a catastrophe that caused all persons, civilians and police on site, to hand in their personal supplies so we could dish them out equally and spin out the supply we had. As the weather cleared, the helos were able to get back and we then were able to hook the piles of bodies in cargo nets under the helicopters and they were taken to McMurdo. This was doubly exhausting because we also had to wind down the personnel numbers with each helo load and that left the remaining people with more work to do. It was exhausting uncovering the bodies and loading them and dangerous, too, as debris from the crash site was whipped up by the helo rotors. Risks were taken by all those involved in this work. The civilians from McDonnell Douglas, MOT, and U.S. Navy personnel were first to leave and then the Police and DSIR followed. I am proud of my service and those of my colleagues on Mount Erebus.[27]
Jim Morgan was the Chief Investigator when the investigation into the crash was in the victim identification phase. He and his team were flown in by helicopter with others and the passage here is about his experience in identifying and recovering the bodies.
I think someone made an episode about it. There was also a documentary about the police officers who were voluntold to go help with the body recovery, and how they were basically told to 'man up' later. Pretty horrific the whole thing.
I went to flight school in New Zealand and we studies this case as part of Human Factors. Scary as hell to think you can fly into a mountain and not see it due to an optical illusion.
Also didn’t help that Air NZ “corrected” the flight plan and neglected to tell the air crew, then covered it up. Crew saw what they expected to see based on past flights. Just tragic.
It was the diligent efforts of Captain Gordon Vette that encouraged ICAO to include the study of human factors in pilot training syllabuses. He fought a long battle to clear the names of his colleagues flying that aircraft. One of the good guys. Also involved in the Cessna 188 Pacific rescue.
If I recall this correctly (read about it in an aviation mag years ago) -
The person who entered the waypoints for the route made a small mistake, which meant the flightpath went near Mt. Erebus when crossing the Antarctic. Some pilots 'took liberties' in flying lower than normal practice in order to give the passengers a spectacular view of the mountain. Some time later, the error in the flight path was noticed, and corrected without telling anyone. Now, the route - correctly - flew directly "over" Mt. Erebus.
So, the next time a flight descended to give the passengers a good view.....
Shows the dangers of lack of communication. The error being corrected without notifying anyone, the pilots flying lower than normal without notifying anyone.
That’s essentially it. The pilots went to training that showed them what to expect based on past flights, which were routed on a different track. Once the waypoint was “corrected” the night before the fateful flight, they were programmed to fly the original route over the summit of Erebus.
The airline sent a rep to Captain Collins’ home following the crash to remove any evidence of his flight planning, because he’d shown his daughters the route plotted with the “incorrect” old waypoints that the other flights had followed.
I flew around, and have landed many times on, Mt Erebus. The flat light required to obscure a 15,000 mountain is absolutely surreal. But it does happen.
A routing change which wasn’t notified to the pilots and a “malevolent trick of the polar light” led the pilots to think they were flying down McMurdo Sound when they were actually flying straight at the 12,400 ft Mount Erebus.
The minimum safe altitude to clear the mountain was 16,000 ft. The aircraft was cleared down to 2,000 ft, at the time regulations said that 6,000 was the absolute minimum. Air New Zealand’s advertising showed evidence of previous flights well below that level.
The aircraft impacted the 12,400 ft mountain at just 1,500 ft.
The investigation by Chippendale was badly bodged and lacked rigour. A subsequent investigation by Mahon found that Air New Zealand executives and senior pilots had tried to cover up their dangerous practices on the route and they were famously accused of “an orchestrated litany of lies”.
There are a few memorials to the flight, including at Waikumete Cemetery and Air New Zealand’s HQ at Fanshawe Street.
It was a defining moment in NZ history. People who were around in 1979 remembered the broadcasts on TV and radio that it was overdue. Hoping for a radio failure, and that it would just appear at an airport in NZ after hours of flying back over the southern ocean.
There's 1900 NM of nothing but wind and very cold water between the southern most suitable airfield in NZ and the ice runway at Antarctica. As the hours went by they would say how much fuel they had left and what point in NZ they could still theoretically reach. Eventually it became obvious it was never coming home.
Nz is a small country. Not many degrees of separation so it was keenly felt by the general population. People always seemed to know of someone involved.
This article has an image that was apparently the last image exposed in a camera found in the wreckage. They think the exposure was triggered at the moment of impact and it depicts fuel (I’ve also seen hydraulic fluid mentioned) spraying the window.
I haven’t done the math on it, but in whiteout conditions there would be a lot of light coming in through the windows, but the shutter speed would have had to be very fast to capture that without it all being just one big blur, so I’m skeptical.
The reading I’ve done suggested it wasn’t whiteout conditions where they were flying and had visibility 8 miles in one direction and 10 miles in another.
I shouldn’t have used the term whiteout. Yes the visibility was technically fine, but what was both below and above the horizon was the same featureless white, so it all looked the same.
I used the term whiteout to get across how much light was likely coming in through the windows in the moments before impact.
I believe a navigational waypoint change which wasn’t widely disseminated to flight crews was a big piece of this accident as well. See the Admiral Cloudberg write up.
nextgeneric@reddit
The fact that we all spent about a week camped in polar tents amid the wreckage and dead bodies, maintaining a 24-hour work schedule says it all. We split the men into two shifts (12 hours on and 12 off), and recovered with great effort all the human remains at the site. Many bodies were trapped under tons of fuselage and wings and much physical effort was required to dig them out and extract them.
Initially, there was very little water at the site and we had only one bowl between all of us to wash our hands in before eating. The water was black. In the first days on site, we did not wash plates and utensils after eating, but handed them on to the next shift because we were unable to wash them. I could not eat my first meal on site because it was a meat stew. Our polar clothing became covered in black human grease (a result of burns on the bodies).
We felt relieved when the first resupply of woollen gloves arrived because ours had become saturated in human grease, however, we needed the finger movement that wool gloves afforded, i.e., writing down the details of what we saw and assigning body and grid numbers to all body parts and labelling them. All bodies and body parts were photographed in situ by U.S. Navy photographers who worked with us. Also, U.S. Navy personnel helped us to lift and pack bodies into body bags, which was very exhausting work.
Later, the 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. To do this we had to scoop up the top layer of snow over the crash site and bury them, only later to uncover them when the weather cleared and the helos were able to get back on the site. It was immensely exhausting work.
After we had almost completed the mission, we were trapped by bad weather and isolated. At that point, NZPO2 and I allowed the liquor that had survived the crash to be given out and we had a party (macabre, but we had to let off steam).
We ran out of cigarettes, a catastrophe that caused all persons, civilians and police on site, to hand in their personal supplies so we could dish them out equally and spin out the supply we had. As the weather cleared, the helos were able to get back and we then were able to hook the piles of bodies in cargo nets under the helicopters and they were taken to McMurdo. This was doubly exhausting because we also had to wind down the personnel numbers with each helo load and that left the remaining people with more work to do. It was exhausting uncovering the bodies and loading them and dangerous, too, as debris from the crash site was whipped up by the helo rotors. Risks were taken by all those involved in this work. The civilians from McDonnell Douglas, MOT, and U.S. Navy personnel were first to leave and then the Police and DSIR followed. I am proud of my service and those of my colleagues on Mount Erebus.[27]
— Jim Morgan
Luigilew@reddit
Working outta McMurdo, this is the first time I’ve heard about it
DarkwingDawg@reddit
Gnarly
CaptainBoday@reddit
This doesn't make any sense at all because new Zealand flight 903 had no survivors according to Wikipedia??
CalvinHobbes101@reddit
Jim Morgan was the Chief Investigator when the investigation into the crash was in the victim identification phase. He and his team were flown in by helicopter with others and the passage here is about his experience in identifying and recovering the bodies.
Ravencunt1@reddit
It's the recovery team. Not survivors
CalvinHobbes101@reddit
He was flown in as part of the team recovering the bodies.
albosohig@reddit
This is the recovery operation. Jim Morgan lead the Disaster Victim Identification team.
JMGurgeh@reddit
This is a member of the recovery/investigation team recalling the work they did at the crash site, not a survivor.
trulystupidinvestor@reddit
gonna file that under "things I wish I hadn't read"
dtdowntime@reddit
thats horrifying
deleted_by_reddit@reddit
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stormdraggy@reddit
Go away you're drunk
sailorpaul@reddit
It was clear. I was at McMurdo that day. Don’t want to discuss
Welshpanda@reddit
Does anyone have a map of where they thought they were? Cheers
Grand_Dragonfruit_13@reddit
They thought they were flying down McMurdo sound, from the bay towards the US base.
Dev_Paleri@reddit
Erebus?! It's always him isn't it?
Ecstatic-Garden-678@reddit
https://admiralcloudberg.medium.com/an-orchestrated-litany-of-lies-the-crash-of-air-new-zealand-flight-901-7259e6afba83
_Face@reddit
https://www.reddit.com/r/CatastrophicFailure/comments/phua2q/1979_the_erebus_disaster_the_crash_of_air_new/
The admiral always has it covered.
BlacksmithNZ@reddit
One of the interesting (and major) crashes not covered by Mayday/Air Crash Investigation series
Always wondered why not.
HSydness@reddit
I think someone made an episode about it. There was also a documentary about the police officers who were voluntold to go help with the body recovery, and how they were basically told to 'man up' later. Pretty horrific the whole thing.
Alarming_Cat_2946@reddit
I went to flight school in New Zealand and we studies this case as part of Human Factors. Scary as hell to think you can fly into a mountain and not see it due to an optical illusion.
Also didn’t help that Air NZ “corrected” the flight plan and neglected to tell the air crew, then covered it up. Crew saw what they expected to see based on past flights. Just tragic.
qalup@reddit
It was the diligent efforts of Captain Gordon Vette that encouraged ICAO to include the study of human factors in pilot training syllabuses. He fought a long battle to clear the names of his colleagues flying that aircraft. One of the good guys. Also involved in the Cessna 188 Pacific rescue.
Erebus: The Aftermath. Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VImFx0GrjHE
Erebus: The Aftermath. Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avnBAtLvVqY
whooo_me@reddit
If I recall this correctly (read about it in an aviation mag years ago) -
The person who entered the waypoints for the route made a small mistake, which meant the flightpath went near Mt. Erebus when crossing the Antarctic. Some pilots 'took liberties' in flying lower than normal practice in order to give the passengers a spectacular view of the mountain. Some time later, the error in the flight path was noticed, and corrected without telling anyone. Now, the route - correctly - flew directly "over" Mt. Erebus.
So, the next time a flight descended to give the passengers a good view.....
Shows the dangers of lack of communication. The error being corrected without notifying anyone, the pilots flying lower than normal without notifying anyone.
Alarming_Cat_2946@reddit
That’s essentially it. The pilots went to training that showed them what to expect based on past flights, which were routed on a different track. Once the waypoint was “corrected” the night before the fateful flight, they were programmed to fly the original route over the summit of Erebus.
The airline sent a rep to Captain Collins’ home following the crash to remove any evidence of his flight planning, because he’d shown his daughters the route plotted with the “incorrect” old waypoints that the other flights had followed.
BobLoblawATX@reddit
I flew around, and have landed many times on, Mt Erebus. The flat light required to obscure a 15,000 mountain is absolutely surreal. But it does happen.
ArtFart124@reddit
A good (or rather tragic) example of confirmation bias too, everyone, including the expert onboard, thought they were somewhere completely different.
Alarming_Cat_2946@reddit
Absolutely.
rocketshipkiwi@reddit
A routing change which wasn’t notified to the pilots and a “malevolent trick of the polar light” led the pilots to think they were flying down McMurdo Sound when they were actually flying straight at the 12,400 ft Mount Erebus.
The minimum safe altitude to clear the mountain was 16,000 ft. The aircraft was cleared down to 2,000 ft, at the time regulations said that 6,000 was the absolute minimum. Air New Zealand’s advertising showed evidence of previous flights well below that level.
The aircraft impacted the 12,400 ft mountain at just 1,500 ft.
The investigation by Chippendale was badly bodged and lacked rigour. A subsequent investigation by Mahon found that Air New Zealand executives and senior pilots had tried to cover up their dangerous practices on the route and they were famously accused of “an orchestrated litany of lies”.
There are a few memorials to the flight, including at Waikumete Cemetery and Air New Zealand’s HQ at Fanshawe Street.
an_0w1@reddit
My uncle was nearly on this flight, but he had an ear infection and couldn't go.
themagnumdopus@reddit
Even when it didn’t need to be for the accident to take place… it was a DC10.
flyingspuck@reddit
It was a defining moment in NZ history. People who were around in 1979 remembered the broadcasts on TV and radio that it was overdue. Hoping for a radio failure, and that it would just appear at an airport in NZ after hours of flying back over the southern ocean.
There's 1900 NM of nothing but wind and very cold water between the southern most suitable airfield in NZ and the ice runway at Antarctica. As the hours went by they would say how much fuel they had left and what point in NZ they could still theoretically reach. Eventually it became obvious it was never coming home.
Nz is a small country. Not many degrees of separation so it was keenly felt by the general population. People always seemed to know of someone involved.
It's the 45th anniversary of this in a few days.
RevoltingHuman@reddit
All those people, got in an instant. People returning to their seats with drinks, drinks they'd never finish...
edisonlbm@reddit
There's a great podcast about this accident: https://www.rnz.co.nz/podcast/white-silence
kambrium_@reddit
Thanks!
thepriceisright__@reddit
This article has an image that was apparently the last image exposed in a camera found in the wreckage. They think the exposure was triggered at the moment of impact and it depicts fuel (I’ve also seen hydraulic fluid mentioned) spraying the window.
I haven’t done the math on it, but in whiteout conditions there would be a lot of light coming in through the windows, but the shutter speed would have had to be very fast to capture that without it all being just one big blur, so I’m skeptical.
LurkerWithAnAccount@reddit
The reading I’ve done suggested it wasn’t whiteout conditions where they were flying and had visibility 8 miles in one direction and 10 miles in another.
thepriceisright__@reddit
I shouldn’t have used the term whiteout. Yes the visibility was technically fine, but what was both below and above the horizon was the same featureless white, so it all looked the same.
I used the term whiteout to get across how much light was likely coming in through the windows in the moments before impact.
LurkerWithAnAccount@reddit
Ah yeah, that aligns with what I’ve read, especially based on the video and photo footage recovered.
It’s sad, I always laughed at that old Far Side cartoon: https://www.deviantart.com/glenn42558/art/Mountain-Goat-Gary-Larson-592423721
But in this case it was simply a facet of the landscape and lighting as visibility in the traditional sense wasn’t a factor.
thepriceisright__@reddit
Haha that’s great. Dark, but great.
Reminds me of this one:
I don’t see what’s wrong with special VFR. It just means fly as you CFIT.
ArtFart124@reddit
Sector whiteout and no pilot training, apparently the pull-up alarms sounded and go-around power was applied but was far too late.
HSydness@reddit
Regardless of what they did, it wouldn't have worked.
I believe the EGPWS has added parameters since that accident to allow for the rise in terrain.
Substantial-Sector60@reddit
I believe a navigational waypoint change which wasn’t widely disseminated to flight crews was a big piece of this accident as well. See the Admiral Cloudberg write up.
ArtFart124@reddit
Yeah that was a major part of the accident. Intially they concluded pilot was at fault which is ridiculous.
Alarming_Cat_2946@reddit
https://youtu.be/yP36X0BsMQ0?si=uEX7lgkeFEw6vN8l
Cesalv@reddit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Erebus_disaster
Comnena@reddit
The description about the work to do the body recovery in this wiki article is horrific
Cajun-Native@reddit
Crazy to think that was all destroyed in an instant