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What caused Erebus crash?
Mahon inquiry Mahon said the single, dominant, and effective cause of the crash was Air New Zealand’s alteration of the flight plan waypoint coordinates in the ground navigation computer without advising the crew. The new flight plan took the aircraft directly over the mountain, rather than along its flank.
What was the significant event that occurred at Mt Erebus?
It remains New Zealand’s worst peacetime disaster. On 28 November 1979, a sightseeing aircraft carrying 257 people crashed head-on into the side of a volcano in Antarctica.
How many people have died on Mt Erebus?
257
Mount Erebus disaster/Number of deaths
Has there ever been a plane crash with survivors?
The youngest sole survivor is Chanayuth Nim-anong, who on 3 September 1997, survived a crash when he was just 14 months old. He was the sole survivor of Vietnam Airlines Flight 815, which had 65 deaths in total. Another sole survivor is a former Serbian flight attendant, Vesna Vulović.
What happened to the Mount Erebus air disaster?
Mount Erebus air disaster. On 28 November 1979, Air New Zealand Flight TE901 crashed into the slopes of Mt Erebus in Antarctica while on a sightseeing flight to the continent. All the 237 passengers and 20 crew on board were killed.
What is the minimum safe altitude for approach to Mount Erebus?
The flight crew either was unaware of or ignored the approved route’s minimum safe altitude (MSA) of 16,000 feet (4,900 m) for the approach to Mount Erebus, and 6,000 feet (1,800 m) in the sector south of Mount Erebus (and then only when the cloud base was at 7,000 feet (2,100 m) or better).
How far away is Mount Erebus from McMurdo?
The coordinates programmed the plane to overfly Mount Erebus, a 12,448-foot-high (3,794 m) volcano, instead of down McMurdo Sound. About four hours after a smooth take-off, the flight was 42 miles (68 km) away from McMurdo Station.
What happened to the plane that went over Ross Island?
The team thought their route was the same as previous flights, going over ice and water in the McMurdo Sound, when in fact the path was going over Ross Island – and the 3,794m volcano Mt Erebus. The second cause was a weather phenomenon known as whiteout – and that’s what is likely to have sealed the plane’s fate.