![]() The crew reported in at 43 miles from the station and asked for approval to descend further, confirming that they had clear visibility. These sight-seeing flights regularly descended below the minimum safe altitude of 16,000 feet so that the passengers could gain a better view and take photographs.Īir Traffic Control at McMurdo Station (Mac Centre) was aware of this and the controller advised the flight that once the flight was within radar range, about 40 miles (65 km) from the station, the flight could descend safely down to 1,500 feet using the radar controlled let-down service. The flight descended over McMurdo Sound for a view of Mount Erebus and McMurdo Station. Neither of the pilots had ever flown to Antartica before and the flight engineer had only been there once. The flight was due to arrive over Antarctica shortly after noon NZST. The passengers were offered a champagne breakfast and three films about the Antarctic as they made their way south. Hillary’s friend Peter Mulgrew, a New Zealand mountaineer and yachtsman, filled in for Hillary as the commentator for the flight. Sir Edmund Hillary had been a guide on previous flights and had been scheduled for the 28th of November flight but cancelled in favour of a speaking tour in the US. ![]() The flight included an experienced Antarctic guide to explain the sights over the public address system. ![]() The Mount Erebus Disaster, as it came to be known, is famous not just for the tragic accident, New Zealand’s worst peacetime disaster, but also because the final accident report’s conclusion was overturned within a year.Īir New Zealand flight 901 was an all-day sight-seeing trip departing Auckland at 08:00 and then landing at Christchurch at 19:00 for refuelling before returning the passengers to Auckland at 21:00, 13 hours after departure. On the 28th of November 1979, a sight-seeing flight to Antartica crashed into Mount Erebus, killing all 257 on board.
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