8mm Forum: The Erebus Disaster

This is topic The Erebus Disaster in forum General Yak at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 559) on November 28, 2019, 04:06 AM:

Today the 28th of November marks the 40 year of the Erebus disaster, when a Air New Zealand DC10 flew into the mountain. I was working at the airport that day when the word came around that a DC10 was missing. It was first thought that they may have had a radio problem, but as the day went on, it was said that by now the aircraft would be out of fuel. The D10 was to land at Christchurch that afternoon, later in the day wreckage was discovered on Erebus.

What was to follow is quite a story, last year I read a book called "Verdict On Erebus" by the judge of a Royal Commission set up at the time "Peter Mahon", his findings would clear the pilots and put the blame on the airline.

Even after 40 years the subject of the disaster is still full of controversy.

My boss once said to me, an accident is not caused by just one thing alone, but many adding to a disaster like this...looking back he was right.

https://youtu.be/07TI_Oj9og0

Posted by Claus Harding (Member # 702) on November 29, 2019, 11:31 PM:

Yes, the Erebus disaster was one of those "heavy ones" in aviation, both for the circumstances and the subsequent investigations. Even to this day, the arguments continue on aviation websites about the blame and such.

Particularly haunting was the 8mm film camera that was found after the accident, which had film footage from inside the passenger cabin several minutes before the crash.

Claus.

Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 559) on November 30, 2019, 03:06 PM:

Hi Claus

Although I won't post a link to you-tube regarding the Super 8 film that survived, it does show that passengers were enjoying the scenery. The film seems to show that outside looked fairly clear as folk were taking photos at the time.

This is from Peter Mahon book with an artist impression on the bottom photo showing how most likely it looked on that day.

On the last page of his book he writes this..

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