![]() ![]() The tragedy ultimately became New Zealand’s worst air disaster - a distinction it still holds, 30 years later. ![]() No apparent survivors.” This statement confirmed the worst fears of the New Zealand public, the families of the victims, and Air New Zealand. The crew reported: “Debris at crash site being blown by wind. They radioed the position to their commanders in Antarctica, along with the recommendation to dispatch a helicopter to the crash site ASAP.Īt 1.25am on November 29 1979, the charred wreckage was formally identified as the remains of flight TE901 by an American helicopter, GENTLE 17, which could not land at the crash site due to poor surface conditions. However, due to weather conditions they could not land at the site. The crew established it was likely to be the remains of TE901. It was 11.50pm when Commander Victor Pesces and the crew of his ski-equipped C-130 Hercules sighted a black ‘smear’ on the slopes of Mt Erebus about 10 miles away. Situation reports, such as the one below, update commanders on current progress and record the resources used in a search.ĪNZ CEO Morrie Davis announcing that TE901 was believed lost, 28 November 1979.Īt an Air New Zealand press conference at 10.00pm, CEO Morrie Davis officially announced that flight TE901 was believed lost because, by then, it had exhausted its fuel supply. Over the course of the evening, the American military sent several situation report updates (SitReps) to their commanders in the United States and to key people in New Zealand. The revised area included the east and west of Ross Island where, later that night, they found the wreckage. In response to the lack of success in locating the aircraft, the decision was made to expand the search area. Information available to the relatives at the airports was limited to, “The flight is late and we have not been able to reach them on the radio since midday.” (Hickson, 1980). Some of the relatives had already heard the news, others learned of the situation as they arrived at the airport to collect their friends and relatives after what was supposed to be the “flight of a lifetime”. In New Zealand, families of the victims had arrived at the international terminals at both Auckland and Christchurch airports. So we took a look as we went in we saw nothing.” “We flew essentially the same route, we descended below the clouds for a landing at McMurdo and we hadn’t heard from them for some time and there was getting to be some suspicion that something might have gone wrong. Major Gumble recalled their journey into McMurdo in the interview that night: However they were not bearers of good news. Upon arrival at Christchurch the crew of the Starlifter was swarmed by the media. They were joined a half hour later, at 4.16pm by six more aircraft launched from McMurdo Station.Ī Royal New Zealand Air Force P3-B Orion left Auckland to search for the wreckage in the waters between Antarctica and New Zealand. A United States Air Force (USAF) Starlifter captained by Major Bruce Gumble followed TE901's flight path on it's return to Christchurch from McMurdo Station. ![]() ![]() A US launched LC-130 aircraft and two UH-1N helicopters scoured McMurdo Sound.
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