8/11/2023 0 Comments Mount erebus disaster truth![]() After getting permission from the McMurdo Station Air Traffic Control at around 12.30pm, Collins descended to 1500ft. However, passengers expected views that could only be given at lower heights shown in photos of previous Antarctic sightseeing flights and advertised in magazines for the flight. Air safety regulations at the time clearly stated that aircrafts were specifically not allowed to descend lower than 6000ft in good conditions. This was because crew did not believe they were in such close proximity to the mountain, but instead thought they were flying safely over McMurdo Sound.Īnother factor that could’ve contributed to the crash of Flight 901 was the decision to allow the aircraft to descend to a low 1500 ft, so passengers could get a clearer view of the scenery. ![]() This mindset contributed to their downfall because when pilots lost a lot of visual reference due to a whiteout, no immediate action was done to improve the pilots visual bearings. Both the pilots and rest of the crew were unaware of the changes to the flight plan, and therefore ignorant to the fact that they were flying on a collision course with Mt Erebus instead of flying over McMurdo Sound like previous flights. On that fateful morning of the 28th of November, Pilots Collins and Cassin entered in the longitude and latitude co-ordinates for the flight, among which were 2 coordinates which had been altered by the Navigation Officer at Air New Zealand, which would change the flight path 45 kilometres to the east. Though the 2 pilots had never flown the sightseeing flight to Antarctica, it was known to be a straightforward flight- no glitches expected. The two attended a standard briefing session 3 weeks before Flight 901 crashed into Erebus, where they were handed out printouts of previous flights to Antarctica. ![]() With over 20 years of experience under his belt, Captain Jim Collins, was an experienced pilot, along with his co-pilot Greg Cassin, who both flew aircrafts for Air New Zealand.
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