![]() Better care should have been taken of you.”įorty years on there remains no memorial to the Erebus disaster, and plans to erect one in the Auckland suburb of Parnell face strident opposition, with some saying it would be too “sad” for local residents. By 8 December 1979 the Erebus disaster recovery operation was finishing up, although bad weather delayed the evacuation of the Disaster. ![]() Site investigation and recovery operation conclude. “And I apologise again on behalf of the airline for the way in which the families of those lost on Mount Erebus were treated in the aftermath of the accident. The bodies of the victims of Air New Zealand Flight TE901 were flown by Royal New Zealand Air Force Hercules aircraft to Whenuapai Air Base in Auckland. “I apologise on behalf of an airline which 40 years ago failed in its duty of care to its passengers and staff,” Walsh said. Mt Erebus in Antarctica on a sightseeing flight on November 28, 1979. The Air New Zealand chair, Dame Therese Walsh, also offered her apologies to the families, a few hundred of whom had gathered at the Auckland memorial event. NZST, the aircraft crashed into the lower slopes of Mt Erebus, killing all on board. A wreath is laid each year at the memorial at the Waikumete Cemetery in West Aukland, New Zealand. Four minutes and 42 seconds later, at 12.49 p.m. We will never know your grief, but I know the time has come to say I am sorry.” Today, wreckage from the flight still lies on the slopes of Mt. “This apology is whole-hearted and wide-reaching. “After 40 years, on behalf of today’s government, the time has come to apologise for the actions of an airline then in full state ownership which ultimately caused the loss of the aircraft and the loss of those you loved,” Ardern said. The crash remains New Zealand’s worst peacetime disaster, and because of the country’s size – just 3 million at the time – a large portion of the population was affected, with current transport minister Phil Twyford describing it as an event “that changed our nation” forever. ![]() Years of inconclusive and murky inquiries led to accusations from grieving families that Air New Zealand was attempting a cover-up by blaming pilot error – a theory a 1981 royal commission of inquiry debunked, saying the crash was down to a whiteout and the plane’s navigational route being changed without the pilots being informed.Īviation experts say improved technology, such as better satellite equipment and weather data means a similar disaster would not occur today. It was undeniably worsened by the events that followed,” she said, referring to the subsequent investigation. It sent ripples across the country, and trauma that those who weren’t directly affected would probably struggle to fathom.” the aircraft to fly directly at Mount Erebus and. And time hasn’t necessarily diminished any of that,” Ardern said. The computer coordinates were changed in the airlines Flight Operations Division. “In 1979 so much was lost and the ramifications were immense.
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