Final Seconds - Recovered Footage Of Doomed Passengers - Flight TE901 (Mt Erebus Disaster 1979)

It was billed as a "once in a lifetime experience", but for the unlucky passengers of Flight 901 it would be their last ever experience. Air New Zealand flight TE901 was a first class, five star sightseeing trip to Antarctica, one of only a few such flights available each year. On November 28th 1979 it flew straight into the side of Mt Erebus, Antarctica's highest mountain, killing all 257 people on board.
It was New Zealand's worst ever air disaster - but the inquiry into why it happened would prove to be as contentious as any air investigation has ever been....
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nzhistory.govt.nz/media/inter...
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• EREBUS 901 - THE SECRE... (secret New Zealand)
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Photo Credits:
James Moore, RNZ, Eduard Marmet, NZ Herald, NZ Geographic, BAAA, stuff.co.nz, The National Post, BBC, Royal Commission Enquiry, New Zealand Transport Accidents Investigation Commission, Colin Monteath, nzhistory.govt.nz, McDonnell Douglas, Alexander Turnbull Library, Air New Zealand Archives, www.coolantarctica.com, Colin Monteath, Fairfax Media NZ,
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[@digdanger]

That phrase, “an orchestrated litany of lies” is seared into the minds of most New Zealanders.

[@ACME_Kinetics]

Reminds me on multiple levels of "Mission Accomplished" as an American.

[@mrpappageorgio8311]

Oh yeah man it was shot down

[@bertjesklotepino]

@@ACME_Kinetics i have, but you don't want to know. Or you will deny

[@bertjesklotepino]

@@mrpappageorgio8311 was it? Where did you get that info from?

[@chairlesnicol672]

Wonder if the families were paid a million each for those 257 deaths,cuz of the deceitful actions of Air New Zealand?

[@drkatel]

I've always found the photos taken onboard to be especially haunting. Also, what horrid luck for the woman who wanted to bail but then let herself be talked into reboarding.

[@sarahfrith1984]

The actual video footage was so haunting wasn’t it? I also thought what must have gone through that lady’s mind 😔

[@quietquitter6103]

Always listen to your intuition.

[@edwinov]

Watch 'Final Destination', she would have died anyway.

[@patpending8134]

@@edwinov That was a fictional movie. Show some respect to the real people who perished, including that poor woman, who might well have lived a full (though laced with survivor guilt) had she not re-boarded.

[@Razer_-fe9mo]

​@@edwinovExactly what I was thinking!

[@yoda68zac11]

I was 9 years old and my teacher was on this flight. She was so excited about this trip and we were looking forward to hearing her stories. She was a wonderful lady and teacher. It's all still very heartbreaking 45 years later.

[@bobgillis1137]

Was she the young lady pictured in the brief onboard film footage?

[@yoda68zac11]

I paused it as many times as I could looking for her but I don't think it was. Randomly my sister was looking for photos of herself as a youngster recently and one of the first photos we came across amongst many large envelopes in a whole suitcase full of photos was my class photo of that year. Perhaps there's some kind of situational bias but I have always felt that she was the most kind and patient teacher I ever had. Rest in peace Ms Nicholson ❤️

[@bobgillis1137]

@@yoda68zac11 Good sentiment. It reminds me of that song about JFK/RFK/MLK "The good they die young"

[@yoda68zac11]

Ain't that the truth. Seems evil far outnumbers good these days, at least in positions of power. ✌️

[@pamelamills6772]

Two of my High School teachers also died on that plane together with their wives. The two of them were close friends and often set tasks and then chatted in the hallway together. Very very sad.

[@wht-rabt-obj]

That poor clean up crew. I don't know if a lot of people realize that "bodies" in an airplane crash are almost never whole bodies. It's picking up limbs, torsos and bits and pieces. I can't imagine how traumatic that must be.

[@Littleowl85352]

It was done because of the many Japanese passengers, it's important in their culture to have a body to bury, I hope the hard work of our rescuers was appreciated in Japan.

[@Ranillon]

There is a documentary specifically about the recovery. It's well worth watching.

[@vladimirputinforUSA]

@@Littleowl85352 it was forgotten about in Japan a month after Nobody cares

[@Littleowl85352]

@@vladimirputinforUSA who in the world would forget the death of their loved one after a month, stop with the embarrassing KZbin trolling please

[@mightyV444]

​@@vladimirputinforUSA - Nobody cares even for just a minute about an Internet troll who passed away!

[@drksclassicbricks5046]

As a 16 year old in 1977 I won an essay competition, the prize for which was a scenic flight for two to Antarctica. I took my mum and we had a thoroughly amazing time. We were seated in first class, directly behind the McDonnell-Douglas CEO. Many passengers were drunk by the time we got to Antarctica. Capt Vette was the pilot and Peter Mulgrew the expert commentator. And yes, we descended through 1500 feet over McMurdo Sound. Two years later we sat glued to radio and TV that horrible evening as it became clear what had happened, and couldn't help imagining that it was us.

[@quietquitter6103]

Most New Zealanders who were alive at the time still consider this incident to be involuntary manslaughter on the part of Air New Zealand and emotions still run high regarding the event. To this day there are some very hard feelings and its only that those who lied and hoodwinked are all dead that we don't outright call that airline murderers.

[@relwalretep]

While I can't speak for every Tasmanian, the connection between Tasmania and Antarctica is very strong. Being an island also "off the coast of Australia", we also feel (from time to time) a kinship with "Our East Islands"😘. Personally, at the time, I deeply felt this. And many family and friends mentioned that it was akin to the true (if not problematic) spirit of ANZAC. No Tasmanian that I know with an interest in Antarctica has ever forgotten the coverup.

[@bobgillis1137]

It sounds to me like criminal negligence.

[@my12spoonswithrose43]

I call it as I see it......murder. I only fly Air NZ when I have no choice at all.

[@PeteChatteris]

No we don't all the same thing. There are a large range of opinions.

[@quietquitter6103]

@@PeteChatteris Yours is the minority. Accept it and fuck off.

[@SakuraAsranArt]

I'm a New Zealander and while studying for my anthropology degree I was granted access to the all the documents and photographs from the Erebus disaster, including all the photos taken at the crash site. I won't describe what I saw in those photographs, but those images are burned in my brain until I die or develop dementia, whichever comes first.

[@relwalretep]

While it may not assist your memory, I deeply thank you for research on this.

[@theravenseye9443]

Thankfully those images you saw seem unavailable on the internet. The photos I found of Operation Overdue show many of the green flags in the snow, but nothing else. For that i am grateful, as inevitably making videos like mine you do come across some truly horrible images...

[@howardsimpson489]

at least they would be frozen and not rotten or smelly.. The NZ Antarctic operation is known as "Deepfreeze"

[@ACME_Kinetics]

​@@theravenseye9443 Human grease pretty much tells the story. I agree that the environment would have mitigated the smell, and thankfully we don't have scratch-n-sniff technology yet.

[@uhtred7860]

My father in law was one of the NZ police that went to Antarctica tasked with recovering the bodies, he said whenever he smelled jet fuel or Kerosene it took him straight back to Erebus.

[@GlenMcCabe]

I'm from NZ and i can confirm the phrase "an orchestrated litany of lies" was common knowledge for many years, and still is among people of a certain age. I was a toddler when the disaster happened but I can remember it being a topic of conversation for my parents after i was 10. It had a massive impact on this country for sure.

[@cchris874]

I think another commentator said of this that while it was indeed a litany of lies, probably not orchestrated.

[@robertthomson1587]

I did the Qantas Antarctic sightseeing flight out of Sydney a couple of years ago. It was an absolutely fantastic experience. We had incredibly clear weather. The planes fly at higher altitudes now, of course, but even so the views were magnificent. The atmosphere in the cabin was very vibrant and convivial as we all moved around from window to window. Yet, at the first mention and views of Mt Erebus a sad and respectful silence fell across all the passengers. Even after 40 years it was very moving.

[@mp4986]

I've done one of those flights too and it was brilliant. We didn't go over Mt Erebus but in doing the flight, it was how I found out about this accident. You're right about the atmosphere on board, it was amazing.

[@DavidBritton-nl1wv]

Do flat Earthers know about these flights?🤨

[@robertthomson1587]

I have no idea.

[@mp4986]

@@DavidBritton-nl1wv I think so. They certainly know about the cruises you can do there and they dismiss them as "only going to where the government allows." As usual, anything that disproves their nonsense, they just dismiss as fake.

[@DAVIDE-bk8by]

@@mp4986 Yes they know flights dont go over the center and never will

[@VonDrinkoften]

I was 4 yrs old at the time and remember it well. This was NOT a case of pilot negligence, nor recklessness! The powers that be decided to alter the navigational course that the flight would take on the fateful day... and omitted to inform the flight crew! The course alteration was also miss-entered which saw the flight take a direct course straight into Mt Erebus. The flight crew basically flew directly into a mountain that they both couldn't see (due to "white-out" conditions) nor were expecting to see. It shouldn't have been there.

[@barneyboy2008]

Lol. 4 years old and remember it well. Ok, young Sheldon.

[@VonDrinkoften]

@@barneyboy2008 Pfffft... what a total Muppet.

[@mvd4436]

But why ?

[@patrickpaganini]

I flew once with Captain Collins - also Gordon Vette was a good friend of my family, and a very great man who worked tirelessly to clear Collins name. I remember Vette saying that Collins was a fantastic pilot and would never have done anything that any other pilot in Air New Zealand wouldn't have done. Corporations will always sacrifice individuals unfortunately, but the level of conspiracy here with evidence from the scene going missing and robbery of of two crew's houses is still even today extremely concerning.

[@ThamMalaysia]

@@patrickpaganini Fantastic pilot or not, without high resolution synthetic aperture ground mapping radar and a moving map display, which ALL airliners MUST HAVE, he had no idea he was going to slam into a 13,000 foot volcano. Common sense will tell anyone it is suicidal flying at 10,000 feet, into an uncertain, uneven, mountainous, huge glacier where you have never been before - with nothing but a radio beacon, compass, preset waypoints and a useless weather radar to guide you. Add in terrain-following radar, automated down to 200 feet, and you won't ever hear of ground collisions again. I am shocked in this day and age that an airliner costing a few hundred million dollars does not have ground mapping radar.

[@Mattribute]

@@ThamMalaysia Every airliner I’ve ever flown has had the ability to map ground with it’s radar, but I’ve never found it useful because we know where terrain is and we know where we are. We have multiple IRUs, DMEs and GPSs feeding information into our FMS, so it’s easy to avoid terrain on a bad day where you can’t see anything. Where it gets problematic is on a “somewhat good day” like VFR at night with terrain. One might be tempted to be lax with all that navigation equipment when cleared for a visual approach but prudence demands that we backup ourselves. These poor souls had some kind of FMS, probably getting info from one VORDME, and then the waypoints programmed into the database. If the names of the waypoints were the same but the lat/longs changed without the crew’s knowledge, it’s really a bad setup. If they had radar that could show water as black and snow as a return, it might have let them know something was wrong, but that’s a lot of ifs. A very strange and sad story.

[@dbarkid]

As a former Air NZ Engineer who was at work at Mangere on the day of the crash I will never forget the sadness that consumed us all on hearing the aircraft was overdue.I will always believe there was a coverup of sorts that lead a competent and skilled crew flying unknowingly into Mt Erebus.Sadly whiteout conditions they encountered were the real contributor on the day of the crash .

[@mattthrun-nowicki8641]

I’m so curious to know more about the attitudes of non-executive employees of Air NZ at the time. What was the company culture like for you? What were the signs at the time that clued you into there being a cover up?

[@wendycooper7060]

@mattthrun-nowicki8641 we were in shock and mourning like all New Zealanders, all the passenger's families and our colleagues families. We were and still are a tight knit bunch. Husband's, wives, brothers, sisters, cousins, sons and daughters and just plain old friends. We lost so much. Our integrity our innocence. It was bad enough to mourn through the disaster, but to still live, and continue to work for an airline, our airline, my airline, was tough as motmre and more was revealed through the years of inquiries and hearings. We stayed loyal to ourselves, our colleagues our passengers and the koru. We did our best to rise above the stigma attached to orchestrated litany of lies, because we still had a job to do and we wanted to do that to the best of our ability. It was important to believe in ourselves if nothing else. Thank goodness for Gordon Vette, Peter Mahon who sought nothing but the truth! Because that's all we ever wanted was the truth.

[@ThamMalaysia]

Tell those stingy airliner makers to fit a terrain-following radar costing maybe a couple million dollars to every airliner - and ground collisions will be history. Instead of just a lousy weather radar for an airliner costing hundreds of millions of dollars.

[@PeteChatteris]

Yes I remember it all too well (avionics engineer 76 to 82)

[@rowanscott915]

Another AirNZ employee in denial. The Captain committed a fatal error, you know it but cant even admit here in these comments. He had no authority to descend, none, cardinal rule broken that day and it cost us a DC10 and many lives.

[@powwowken2760]

Gotta love when the corrupt industry is the one investigating its own corruption. Crazy how they always turn out to be innocent...

[@alanskinner7031]

the aviation works the same as the medical field the nurses and the doctors can never do anything wrong ever! just ask them.

[@Boababa-fn3mr]

​@@alanskinner7031_there were complications_ = I accidentally killed your loved one

[@GuitarRyder11]

A Royal Commission is not Air New Zealand investigating itself...? What tobacco do you smoke? Wnkr.

[@alistairlewis2461]

@@alanskinner7031 That is total BS. Can't speak about the 70's but these days those investigations are thorough

[@stuartd9741]

It seems judges are politicised, same as police forces..both state departments are supposed to be impartial yet seemingly do the bidding of governments.

[@MattyClivingthedream]

The Chippendale report is the most unbelievable thing that I have read. The flight was doomed because they were sent directly towards a 14,,000 foot mountain. Any altitude below this meant certain death. The report brushes over this fact as if it doesn't exist.

[@wendycooper7060]

I concur. So much fuss was made of their decision to descend, but the US base okayed it that day and Air NZs advertising specifically emphasised low level flights and Qantas also participated in those too. If they'd been higher unfortunately they still would have hit Erebus and it would have made retrieval of bodies, and evidence so much more difficult...

[@denisegore1884]

A boy from my school was one of the victims and there is another victim buried in one of the Napier cemeteries. I remember listening to the radio that night and the flight being overdue. The next morning, finding it had crashed. We don't forget.

[@seanodwyer4322]

ahh was on highway 50 when it hit the news and ahh could not get my head around what exactlly they were doing down there and was dumb about those flights.- Mom blamed that Ted Hillary for brain-washing public too be Mountain Happy.

[@jaysonpida5379]

Great vid. Well done. Imagine that.....a corporation hiding and covering-up with 'friends' in the government helping them. I'm shocked.

[@theWanderersnotebook]

Well not that shocked…

[@michaelsimpson9779]

Very safe, totally effective

[@CA999]

A recurring theme in this channel... And of course quite predictable...

[@Littleowl85352]

It's a state owned corporation so of course government hide it, the government is the corporation in this case.

[@OutrageDuck69]

@@Littleowl85352 Corporations own all Western Capitalist Governments.

[@kozytime3232]

I am a polar meteorologist who specifically studies the topographical influence of winds, especially in the Ross Island and other coastal regions. Flying that low even during clear air days is already insane to me due to the potential of mountain wave induced turbulence. That entire area has some of the most intensely focused forecasting techniques to ensure nothing like this happens ever again. I hope all of the victims are resting in peace.

[@TheFunkhouser]

doesn't help when Air NZ goes and changes the flight plan on the 11th hour and doesnt tell the crew! OMG!

[@Littleowl85352]

The Aussies still fly a sightseeing tour I think

[@ThamMalaysia]

An airliner - due to the aircraft makers scrimping on money - has no ground mapping radar, let alone terrain following radar, All they give you is a lousy weather radar. Poor navigation aids relying on a crude radio beacon and preset waypoints. And yet these idiots flew so low into uncertain, hazardous territory, knowing there is a huge volcano almost half as high as Everest in that vicinity ?

[@NucleaRaptor]

The coverup was almost as fucked as the crash itself. The fact that the coordinates were quietly changed seemingly in the dead of night without informing anyone reeks of an assassination attempt.

[@ausnorman8050]

Cool Story mate.... assassination lol no. Just people (human error) being idiots with nav vs not informing the changes of said new nav points. Then coverup by corporate as they knew they'd F-up and tried to hide the fact.

[@Dilley_G45]

Not that but it was cooperate asscovering after. They had the co-pilots house burgled. No money or valuables were taken. But all things relating to the work. Who would do that? There were documentaries about that. Air NZ and the government conspired to cover this up and blame the pilot. A royal commission was called. The term "orchestrated litany of lies " is well known in New Zealand still today

[@bubba99009]

To believe that you'd have to believe the pilot was flying blind and had no idea where he was or where he was going or had any awareness of the flight plan... Which hardly absolves the pilot of responsibility either since those things are all the pilot's responsibility. The conspiracy theory makes zero sense.

[@change_your_oil_regularly4287]

​@@Dilley_G45Aussie here I've watched several of those docs. Agreed its relatively well know in this part of the world. For most Mahon's findings are regarded as the correct ones The poster above is suggesting a theory based on nothing. It has no substance whatsoever

[@quietquitter6103]

@@bubba99009 That there was a conspiracy between the government and the airline is fact. It's also fact that documents were stolen and that documents were destroyed.

[@scottbubb2946]

Just imagine how hard it would be to work in those conditions. Mentally and physically exhausting.

[@Dilley_G45]

They had to chase off birds who tried to eat the bits of the bodies who they tried to recover.

[@paulorocky]

There’s a doco on KZbin that has testimony from those involved.

[@scottbubb2946]

@@paulorocky Thank you, I will look that up, sounds interesting.

[@b3j8]

And you would never be able to forget what you saw.

[@juliaforsyth8332]

There was serious PTSD in the team afterwards and their lives were shattered.

[@benji274]

Sir Edmund Hillary apparently was scheduled to be the Antarctic guide that day, but was called away by some other matter. Another great video.

[@theravenseye9443]

Yes - he was replaced by Peter Mulgrew.

[@SuperEdge67]

@@theravenseye9443……and I believe Hillary ended up marrying Mulgrew’s wife.

[@PeteChatteris]

@@SuperEdge67 yes he did. June is an amazing woman. Ed's first wife was also killed in a plane crash.

[@bryanpalmer9660]

Was at high school when this occurred the whole country was shocked even more so when it was discovered flight coordinates had been changed and covered up after and the famous quote used to describe it "An orchestrated litany of lies!" Auckland New Zealand 2024

[@stevengibbins8350]

I to was at high school when this disaster happened. My parents knew Justice Mahon well and considered him to be a man of the utmost integrity and honesty and did I. He said what needed to be said & I firmly believe it to be correct. Air New Zealand has over the years had many achievements, not all of them can be considered great, this includes a government bail-out (or two). Personally I have found some of their CEO's to be rather ruthless and unfortunately one of them is now our Prime Minister (You can't run a country like a company Mr Luxon). Political expediency is often the name of the game and this is very sad.

[@peternorton3399]

😊😊😊​@@stevengibbins8350

[@ThamMalaysia]

Why is it shocking ? Didn't you know an airliner is very pitifully equipped in terms of navigation electronics ? It has only a lousy weather radar. It relies on crude radio beacons and preset waypoints for navigation. There is no high resolution synthetic aperture ground mapping radar . let alone FLIR, LLTV and terrain-following radar. If it had these, this video would not exist.

[@mvd4436]

@@ThamMalaysia They still use waypoints as navigation today

[@ThamMalaysia]

@@mvd4436 Yes, those are keyed into the navigation computer, linked to the autopilot. The computer simply flies you to the next waypoint, just a coordinate. The computer does not know what that waypoint is. If that coordinate is a mountain, it will also fly you there.

[@user-tr9le9zb2x]

In 1999 the Minister of Transport, Maurice Williamson, who worked at Air New Zealand as a corporate planner at the time of the crash, tabled the Mahon report in Parliament.

[@markpinther9296]

Thank you for telling that story. The men who were tasked with staying out there and conducting body parts recovery are absolute heroes and should be recognized. Charred human grease is something that none of us would ever want to deal with, much less have to handle as much as they did. A real example of old souls doing their level best for the families of the lost.

[@rjlchristie]

Grease wasn't the half of it The fires melted the snow, maimed corpses sank into the slush and were then frozen into blocks of a metre deep ice that had to be pickaxed open for recovery.

[@johnstirling6597]

The younger brother of a friend of mine was on the flight, happened 45 years ago and I still think of him and the life not lived.

[@michaelwhalen2442]

The Lord grant you and your family peace and rest...

[@seanodwyer4322]

Victim Support- Sean O'Dwyer- number 136- 140 Hobson Street.- Auckland City. 1010.- New Zealand.

[@davidedwards8365]

The story of the rescue workers at this crash site is something that always renews my faith in humanity. What utterly extraordinary people

[@johndonaldson3619]

In the 80's as part of my training, I watched a film about the recovery of the bodies. The logistics involved were staggering. I'll never forget the ariel film of literally HUNDREDS of body parts scattered for a mile in every directions. Endless red soaked spots in the virgin white snow marked each and every part of a lost soul.

[@stephendacey8761]

It was a good idea to bury the bodies in the snow to prevent the birds from getting at them.

[@applecorpse]

I remember as a thirteen year old sitting at home with my family in Henderson, West Auckland watching the news bulletins on the tele. The last one I saw said that they would've been out of fuel and hopefully down on the ice ( safely) or ditched in the Southern Ocean. Also, for many years in the NZ Herald on November 28th, the parents of a stewardess killed in the crash would put a poem in the "in memorium" section. The poem was about a lass named Katrina. RIP.

[@StephenLuke]

RIP To the passengers and crew of Air New Zealand Flight 901

[@bennyd345]

Hey there Raven, just noticed how close you are to the promised land of 100,000 subscribers, and wanted to say congratulations, you've worked hard for it and you've earned it, I remember joining at about 10 000 and saying your channel was about to blow up ! Looks like I was right. Well done, brother, well done indeed. 🙏 👏👏👏

[@theravenseye9443]

Thank you so much!

[@kateemma22]

Those rescue crews were living in some kind of frozen hell.

[@Salmon_Rush_Die]

Wow that side-by-side comparison photo of McMurdo & Ross Bays really made the whole case for me. The guys wouldn't ever have seen the terrain until they were planting their faces into it. Imagine their utter confusion in that last second.

[@ComaDave]

I remember this, as a 15 year old. 😢 Love from across the Ditch. 🇦🇺

[@ansett7272]

Same here my age 15 years old on the day 28th November 1979 Adelaide, South Australia. Flew TE Air New Zealand on the BIG 10...marketed at the time DC-10 with the airline many times. A beautiful aircraft was the DC-10, and a great airline TE was with service and staff on board. Never flew ZK-NZP. Did ZK-NZT new only a few weeks old at the time 1978 plus many others on the TE DC-10 fleet. ZK-NZS still now exists being preserved. My final flight on TE DC-10 was February 1981 LAX to SYD with cockpit visit beautiful memories. The BIG 10 was replaced with Boeing 747-219B by 1983 but flying on board TE B747 classic, new at time, was different. Still love the BIG 10. Miss the DC-8 as well! A loss on TE 901 I feel a lot with it all and it had an impact with me too. I know sadly. Ansett 727.

[@mattwestuk1]

I'm excited to see that this channel is so close to 100k subscribers! It is a hidden gem and has never had the level of subscription that I thought it should. Congratulations!!!

[@deeayenn]

Sir is back once again with yet another exceptional piece of work. Many thanks.

[@grungysquash1]

I'll never forget listening to the news with my Dad when the crash occurred, and then the final report - a litany of lies - I'll never forget this. Companies will always only consider themselves, there is zero accountability and blame avoidance.

[@aerotube7291]

A lot of those first responders had major ptsd for years

[@GlenMcCabe]

They were in no way trained or prepared for what they had to do. While it was in a sense in keeping with the rough and ready attitude of NZ at the time, the Police on the recovery mission suffered terribly

[@neskire]

A friend of mine told me he was scheduled to be on board but had to cancel. He is a very lucky fellow.

[@peterbird7979]

I sat in my house listening, waiting for the news that the flight had landed, and felt a sudden crushing sadness when the news came out that there was no chance the flight was still airborne. Morrie Davis was a crook. It was he who orchestrated the house theft of Jim's atlas maps where he had drawn the flight plan and discussed it with his Wife, the intentional shredding of files, including the changes to the flight computer. Having been in LandSAR, I know a couple of Policemen who were there, and they still talk about what they saw and did ( but mostly to others who were there ). One who found the ( Jim's ) flight log book, said it he was directed to immediately hand it over, but also said it was all complete when he did so. There is overwhelming, consistent, meticulous evidence that the Mahon report is correct.

[@GuitarRyder11]

Of course it was. Mahon was an honourable man.

[@Littleowl85352]

Every Kiwi alive, myself included, was somehow connected to someone on that flight. A huge tragedy for our little country.

[@alexsetterington3142]

Nope I'm not

[@juliaforsyth8332]

@@alexsetterington3142 Nor me.

[@GuitarRyder11]

@@alexsetterington3142 Were you alive at the time? Your family must have been disliked a lot if you had no connection to anyone on the flight. Wnkr.

[@Juttutin]

At least for Kiwis my age, Mahon is remembered as something of a hero. Everyone blames corporate AirNZ bosses, and the cover up was worse than the originating crime (which was terrible in and of itself)

[@GuitarRyder11]

Yep, and the leader at the time was a pig - Muldoon. Helped to try and cover for his mates - who was Muldoon's lawyer? (Rhetorical) Evil bastards trying to cover up the reason behind the 'accident' didn't think about reducing the risk of it happening again, just concerned with avoiding consequences of their mis-management.

[@gary1961]

At 5:37 is 17 year old Belinda Arnold. She was on the flight with her mother. It is so senseless and tragic that she was just moments away from death.

[@wendycooper7060]

She was my brother's girlfriend. He still visits her grave when he returns to NZ.

[@Joe-iv5ks]

It was Melinda age 17 and that was her older sister Valerie age 49 from a family of 10 children, the youngest and the oldest.

[@gary1961]

@@wendycooper7060 Oh, that is tragic. How he must feel when he sees this fleeting glimpse of her just before the terrible crash. Our lives hang on a thin thread which can be snapped at any time. We really don't know the minute .......

[@gary1961]

@@Joe-iv5ks Thank you for that information.

[@wendycooper7060]

@@gary1961 you are so welcome xxx

[@Hartford1992]

Another wonderful video. Always been fascinated with this particular aviation disaster. Thank you for covering it the way you do.

[@JimAllen-Persona]

Generally, if your instincts to tell you to GTFO, GTFO.. unless you’ve seen too many Final Destination movies.

[@grapeshot]

@JimAllen-Persona yeah like the Candy Man said, death doesn't like to be cheated.

[@Dilley_G45]

No that was before those

[@iwaswrongabouteveryhthing]

guessing she was told no refunds

[@Juttutin]

How many is "too many" final destination films?

[@seanodwyer4322]

@@iwaswrongabouteveryhthing -''ahh just praye She got her $$$$ Money's worth.- on the once in a life- time flight.

[@user-tn1vc1xz5d]

I've flown over the crash site in a helo, it may be near McMurdo but its still a harsh and remote place. I've skied the foothills of Erebus but an ex-boss of mine went to the top. I've always wanted to go up Mt. Terror but had to settle for Castle Rock before climbing it was banned. I went up without ropes, now you need fully climbing kit and training to go up there. Peter Mulgrew was on board, ex Old Firm collegue of Sir Ed Hillary. RIP.

[@pietweety7020]

Fascinating story expertly told and presented by one of the best channels on KZbin 👍

[@fluffyfour]

I wanted to find out who the people in the video were, to put a name to the faces, but there doesn't seem to be much. I did find out the gentleman at 5:36 moving from left to right and sitting down, is Frank Christmas, the girl at 5:38 is Melinda Arnold, who'd just turned 17 and was one of the youngest on the flight, and there's a cabin crew gentleman holding glasses and I think a bottle at 5:40 who may be Michael Finlay but it's so fleeting. I did find a roll of remembrance which has photos of all the crew, but the passenger photos are minimal. Does anyone know about any other sites?? There are some very good documentaries about Overdue as well, I watched one a while ago concentrating on the police workers and how unappreciated their work was until recently. They were just supposed to slot back into their normal jobs, with no support for any distress or damage over what they'd experienced.

[@my12spoonswithrose43]

That is a great doco.

[@philipjarvis5979]

I saw my uncle in a photo..

[@brian402]

I live in New Zealand, Christchurch in fact., TE901 departed from Auckland.,i was working at a supermarket packing shelfs when over the intercom radio. They said that this flight was now overdue to arrive back at Auckland International Airport, never will forget that day!.

[@StephenLuke]

November 28 is a dark day for aviation, not only for Air New Zealand Flight 901 but also for South African Airways Flight 295 eight years later. 😢💔

[@sailorman8668]

It seems Brian, that after the Antarctic sight-seeing portion of the flight, you're not aware that the aircraft was supposed to have first landed back in Christchurch and then refueled with a crew change and then onwards to Auckland around 45 minutes after landing in Christchurch?

[@iamrichrocker]

there is something special about you and your presentation of content..always very interesting and rare incidents..have been a loyal subscriber since the day i watched a video of yours..and to that i say you deserve many more subscribers and views..you will continue to grow..thx again..

[@theravenseye9443]

Thanks very much - appreciate it!

[@eiloen]

"Black human grease" is as awful a phrase as "human jam" used to describe the horror of Tianamen Square in June of 1989

[@SMGJohn]

Nothing compared to "logs" term used in Unit 731

[@thejudgmentalcat]

The Antarctica memorial is touching 😢

[@ellietaylor6940]

Erebus - Into The Unknown is a very good drama-documentary of this. It's based on the recovery crew and their experiences both during the operation and witnessing the coverup. It's a tough watch in places, but gives a lot of insight into what these people went through in the aftermath.

[@SmokeTheHolyChalice]

Love the channel and so happy I found it. Finally, well researched, rich content that organized and narrated clearly and proficiently. Thank you for caring more about quality than monetary gain.

[@francoisgoulet3352]

As always, great video Raven.

[@mysterycrumble]

not the first video i've seen on this topic, but easily the best. great job!

[@eddieedmondson7698]

Worked for Air NZ in the early 1970s. Would believe Mahon's report above anything that came out of Air NZ.

[@VTPSTTU]

Thanks for the video. You did a good job covering this disaster.

[@greebo7857]

Us Aussies were much closer to our Kiwi cousins back then. I remember vividl the shock this then 26 yo Aussie felt at the crash. The following coverup was even worse. We weren't used to that sort of malfeasance, although we would be later.

[@Beensash]

We were much closer to each other, too. There's no sense of community anymore.

[@barneyboy2008]

​@@Beensash thanks neoliberalism.

[@TioDeive]

What an outstanding work you've done sir. Thank you.

[@chriscavy]

I just found your channel and I've been binge-watching everything. Really great stuff; thanks for the content.

[@eddjordan2399]

Feels like a cover up classic. Poor people on the plane. then the poor people on the ground sweeping up the people parts. huge respect to the rescue crew and after all that i think id have a stiff drink, no pun intended. great reporting as allways sir also good luck on 100k

[@rjlchristie]

It was a cover up classic. Complete with blame the dead guy.

[@JetsetComedian]

Judge Peter Mahon 👑

[@senses70]

In 2019, prime minister Jacinda Ardern apologised on behalf of the airline for failing in its duty for flight 901. That was, in my view, an admission of guilt from Air New Zealand. After 40 years of despair and anguish from the victim’s family. Better late than never… However, absolutely revolting cover up from the airline and the authorities at the time. RIP. [ EDITED: Most of the comments below are about Jacinda Ardern, and your dislike of her. The point being it was a coward admission of guilt from Air New Zealand about the crash. The messenger in that case is irrelevant. Let’s not forget it’s about flight 901 and its victims. Peace everyone]

[@peternagy-im4be]

Arden is a joke. Biggest clown ever in Kiwi politics. She sums up everything that is bad in today's awful society.

[@jeremywestenra4178]

It was not Jacinda, she has yet to apologise for anything including stuffing the economy. It was Rob Fyfe.

[@iwaswrongabouteveryhthing]

one of the worst PM'S in history

[@johnfisher7143]

If I was related to one of the victims the last thing I’d want is an apology from that disgusting virtue signaling narcissist. What an insult.

[@dougfraser77]

Very easy to apologize on behalf of someone else. Apology was far too late and from the wrong person.

[@stevensmith8876]

I so feel for the lady who got off and then back on, as well as the ground crew who convinced her it was ok. What must they have felt?

[@tonyarichards5430]

I’m so excited for you to hit 100K subs! Thanks for your content from a big fan.

[@theravenseye9443]

Thanks a lot - appreciate the good will.

[@markchalled3976]

I thought I knew all about this crash. Seems I was mislead. Thanks for helping us reach the truth. That commodity is in such short supply these days.

[@lptomtom]

I hate the word with a passion, but this channel is truly underrated, the videos are always fascinating and you never expect the next topic he'll tackle!

[@ms-jl6dl]

You must be a communist too.

[@deborahbones8871]

Two of my husbands relatives died on this flight, his great grand uncle Alexander Francis Plummer & his daughter Hilda Frances Plummer. RIP

[@plainguy4996]

Excellent presentation of a very tragic and intriguing aviation disaster. Well done.

[@ChrysW]

My father was a consultant to the airline (marketing) & it hit me hard as our family could have all been on that flight. Thank God for turning them down. I couldn't personally sleep for weeks. I was 19 at the time. Dad is about to turn 90 yrs old. Guess it wasn't our time!

[@sicboi]

Thank you, that was a great video and very informative. I'd always heard of the crash but never went to find out more so thank you indeed for such an in depth informative video. Ultimately a very sad event affecting many that became involved with it, evidently.

[@prudencepineapple9448]

For me, it's the very last photo taken of a passenger window with what appears to be hydraulic fluid sprayed across the window at the moment of impact that haunts me. I remember this well as I wanted to go on one with QANTAS. The remains of the Dc 10 are still visible sometimes. I never got to go.

[@Taz6688]

I think that is a nice way of saying something, rather than saying this is blood at the moment of the crash, many would complain it was too gory, therefore it must be hydraulic fluid.

[@deanothemanc5281]

History has shown that both the police officers and Peter Mahon were true heroes. The truth always comes out, eventually. Rip to all the souls of this horrific incident.

[@tctc8578]

Excellent documentary so thank you! 👍👏🙏

[@wadestevens5659]

Terrific documentary! Great editing, copy and narraration. Thanks so much for posting something that was NOT created via A.I.

[@narabdela]

Excellent work. It's great to see a flight channel that actually maintains its integrity, particularly after what's happened to that other "Flight Channel"

[@marleneschulz118]

What happened to the other flight channel?

[@johntowle]

This video is well researched and pleasant and easy to understand the narrator.

[@thetruereddevil1]

Horrendously sad.....most New Zealanders knew someone on there or affected. Air New Zealand has never fully recovered its reputation locally imo. Pilots were victims just like the passengers. May they all rest in peace. This was a really well done video. Thank you

[@GlenMcCabe]

I think to be fair Air NZ's reputation has recovered. They are known for a strong safety culture and are a very safe and reputable airline. But every time anything re safety at Air NZ is in the media, Erebus is usually mentioned. They have not forgotten - and will not be allowed to forget - Erebus

[@thetruereddevil1]

That's fair, certainly known for safety, and a good worldwide reputation. But locally, they won't and shouldn't be allowed to forget. The apology many years later was overdue, but I would say appreciated

[@joharrison3469]

Did Air New Zealand apologise? I don't think so. Jacinda apologised because she loves the lime light and emoting in front of a crowd. She is trained I'm manipulation.

[@thetruereddevil1]

​@@joharrison3469righto lol

[@dtaylor10chuckufarle]

Interesting and very well presented.

[@flashgordon6238]

I was deployed to McMurdo US Base on Ross Island at the base of Mount Erebus in 1984, 1985 and 1986. I was a Navy helicopter crew chief flying in UH-1 N as seen at 11:42. I flew in that number 11 helo during my time in McMurdo and back at VXE-6 Squadron Point Mugu, California Naval Air Station. We had six helicopters for missions. Our max ceiling was 15K above sea level. We could see the wreckage every flight overs Erebus. I set foot on top of Erebus with a walk around Oxygen bottle and video camera in 1985. We would do air drops to the scientists on the side of Erebus. Due one of the helos crashing without fatalities, we were then limited to 10K operations, so no more trips to the crater rim at the top.

[@ThoughtfulAl]

I remember watching the TV news that night when I was 15, it was the first time I had ever seen a presenter (male) brought to tears. This video brought back memories.

[@reachandler3655]

Great coverage of this terrible accident, the horrifying circumstances of the recovery, and the shameful cover-up of the circumstances leading to the tragedy. Thankyou.

[@andigossweiler1551]

Thank you! I've never heard before of this incident in 1979 and it's a very interesting and tragic event.

[@garypeacock5919]

Excellent video,well explained. The old adage of "it's not what you know, but who you know" are certainly true in this case.

[@antonbrum5492]

Great video, remember this accident so well. I met an ATC controller, who was actually on duty at the time of this crash, he told me that they knew something had happened to the DC10 just several hours after its last communication with ATC.

[@Littleowl85352]

"The man that hath no music in himself, Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons, stategems, and spoils. The motions of his spirit are dull as night, And his affections dark as Erebus."

[@technick6418]

This crash gave the DC-10 the dubious honor of being the only commercial passenger jet to have crashed on all seven continents.

[@anthonygolding4764]

No DC-10 has crashed in Australia!

[@ms-jl6dl]

You mean six?

[@cambridgemart2075]

@@ms-jl6dl No, seven.

[@cambridgemart2075]

@@anthonygolding4764 Australia is part of Australasia

[@anthonygolding4764]

@@technick6418 Australia is an island continent. Unless all the geography school books are wrong! Australasia is a region.

[@briandenley]

Excellent video on a very tragic affair.

[@craigmcdonald2110]

So interesting, thank you

[@SopwithTheCamel]

Ron Chippendale told us what happened. Peter Mahone told us why.

[@AlwaysBastos]

I had a friend on board, his wife bought tickets for his birthday. And I have a copy of the Mahon report.... there are too many un-answered questions in it. Did some passengers in the tail section survive the impact, but died of cold after? There never was a rescue although McMurdo base offered assistance, just recovery (by police rather than professional rescue services) several days later. McMahon reports that a fire was started 'some time after' the crash, while medical sources in Christchurch say some bodies were found wearing extra clothing. There was a huge cover-up and some lies are still to be investigated.

[@rjlchristie]

Air NZ management's behaviour during subsequent inquiries remains a permanent disgrace to our country Mahon is a national hero, crucified by those with venal and other interests. Included amongst those were the NZ Court of Appeal, the Privy Council and the National Party Caucus of the NZ Government, 1978 through 1984.

[@PaulSmith-bb7lv]

I was working for the NZ Police in the months after this tragedy. We were asked to attend a filming of the post-mortems of the bodies as training for a similar event. I had to leave the screening after 3 minutes. Those officers who spent a week in those dreadful conditions have my greatest respect.

[@jack80kiwi]

I was working there at the time as a maintenance engineer . The whole thing was to me a bit frightening as there is no alternate airport to go to. The aftermath you need to know the type of people the CEO Morrie Davis and the Primeminister Muldoon were . My friends daughter was a Hostie on the flight he was devastated . It would be the most stupid thing that was ever done by an airline.

[@ralphwatt8752]

My Mum and I were so close to booking seats on 901 My Mum.was. feeling very uneasy about the flight . I was working when a member of staff came and told about a missing Air New Zealand Flight , it was 901 Mum's intuition saved our life's !

[@balkanleopard9728]

I was beginning my o/s working career at this time. After this event I refused to fly with Air New Zealand. There is no doubt this disaster was caused by faulty route information and that it resulted in a shameful "orchestrated litany of lies". There are certain important "accidents" that stand out as lessons in life - Mt Erebus, Flixborough and Piper Alpha being just three dreadful examples. The Mt Erebus crash is one at the top of the list.

[@ellenbryn]

Erebus is one of the Romans' names for Hades (Hell). At this moment, DC-10s are flying that low dumping fire retardant on California wildfires, but their pilots are probably more experienced and given more rigorous training than Air New Zealand gave its pilots, and if the smoke obscures their view, they're not expected to keep going. (Even so, I think a DC-9 tanker crashed a few years ago.) To be clear, I'm not blaming the crew, but administration putting a pilot in charge of a passenger flight to Antarctica who had not flown there in the past running scientists or supplies. It's an unusual route over a dangerous southern ocean with no place to land if anything goes wrong, so the training and selection of the crew should have been considered as much as that of the tour guides. It seems like this crew was given inadequate information and preparation in multiple ways, although they carried on professionally based on the flight plan they were given. I'd seen a documentary some time ago detailing the coverup, although I needed to refresh my memory... I remembered some kind of navigation problem but not why it happened. I had no idea how limited the resources were for the initial investigation as well. The conditions described by the recovery crew are absolutely horrendous. Not being able to wash their hands properly before eating... that's not an experience you will forget.

[@Meddled]

I've seen some of the 8mm footage captured by passengers, including footage of them over the ice at a slower altitude than they should have been. There is something eerily haunting about the footage.

[@bobgillis1137]

This is such a sad event to me. On the one hand, if the accident was the fault of the airline, rather than the pilots, then it was still an accident. We all make mistakes. Nobody intended for these souls to be lost. The real crime here is, in IMHO, the coverup, as the Parliamentary report suggested. Worse yet if they deliberately through the dead pilots under the bus to deflect attention, then that exacerbates the crime. It also makes me wonder how often "pilot error" is used in the industry where not called for, just for the sake of expediency. It would not surprise me if this is the case, since writing off a pilot or two is much easier (financially) than renovating a whole fleet if it comes to mechanical error or such. In any event, I find the kiwi people a kind lot and would like to think that if the airline had early-on owned up to their critical errors, they probably would have been forgiven.

[@stevenperreau6286]

Some good did come out of the Erebus disaster namely better Terrain Avoidance and Warning Systems (TAWS). The issue is the early Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS) as fitted to TE901 used a radio altimeter that looked straight down for measuring distance from terrain. By the time the GPWS warning sounded the jet was already over the lower mountain slopes and escape was impossible. I fly a small 4 seat aircraft and even this plane today has TAWS with a Forward Looking Terrain Avoidance (FLTA) function. If this happened today on a modern jet, the FLTA function will provide a timely warning giving the crew enough time to execute a successful terrain escape maneuver. The Erebus disaster certainly was cited for the push for better TAWS and it may provide some small measure of comfort for those who lost loved ones to know this.

[@randylahey1232]

The only aspect of this channel i dislike is the frequency of uploads or lack there of but you still get my vote👍