Mount Erebus disaster

Air New Zealand Flight 901

Debris from the DC-10's fuselage photographed in 2004: Most of the wreckage of Flight 901 remains at the accident site.
Accident
Date	28 November 1979
Summary	Controlled flight into terrain
Site	Mount Erebus, Antarctica 77°25′30″S 167°27′30″E / 77.42500°S 167.45833°E / -77.42500; 167.45833
Aircraft
Aircraft type	McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30
Operator	Air New Zealand
Call sign	NEW ZEALAND 901
Registration	ZK-NZP
Flight origin	Auckland International Airport
1st stopover	Non-stop flight over Antarctica
Last stopover	Christchurch International Airport
Destination	Auckland International Airport
Occupants	257
Passengers	237
Crew	20
Fatalities	257
Survivors	0

The Mount Erebus disaster occurred on 28 November 1979 when Air New Zealand Flight 901 (TE901)^{[nb 1]} flew into Mount Erebus on Ross Island, Antarctica, killing all 237 passengers and 20 crew on board.^[1][2] Air New Zealand had been operating scheduled Antarctic sightseeing flights since 1977. This flight left Auckland Airport in the morning and was supposed to spend a few hours flying over the Antarctic continent, before returning to Auckland in the evening via Christchurch.

The initial investigation concluded the accident was caused primarily by pilot error, but public outcry led to the establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the crash. The commission, presided over by Justice Peter Mahon, concluded that the accident was primarily caused by a correction made to the coordinates of the flight path the night before the disaster, coupled with a failure to inform the flight crew of the change, with the result that the aircraft, instead of being directed by computer down McMurdo Sound (as the crew had been led to believe), was instead rerouted to a path toward Mount Erebus. Justice Mahon's report accused Air New Zealand of presenting "an orchestrated litany of lies", and this led to changes in senior management at the airline. The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council later ruled that the finding of a conspiracy was a breach of natural justice and not supported by the evidence.

The accident is the deadliest in the history of Air New Zealand, the deadliest aviation accident in Antarctica and one of New Zealand's deadliest peacetime disasters.

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