Mount Erebus air disaster
Erebus crash quick links
- Read a timeline of the flight and the aftermath from our New Zealand Disasters section for children.
- The Erebus story. A comprehensive site with audio-visual footage, photographs, personal accounts and detailed historical information as well as a schools section for students and teachers. Maintained by the New Zealand Air Line Pilots Association.
- Read the Roll of Remembrance.
- NZ History.net Erebus topic and media gallery
- TVNZ Erebus coverage - video, archival footage, news reports and photo galleries
On 28 November 1979, Air New Zealand Flight TE901 crashed into the slopes of Mt Erebus in Antarctica while on a sight-seeing flight to the continent. All the 237 passengers and 20 crew on board were killed and the crash remains the worst civilian disaster in New Zealand’s history.
Thirty years on, the crash continues to evoke trauma and debate, ranging from the difficult and harrowing recovery operation to the effects on families and remembrance services.
Apology
Air New Zealand apologised to those affected by the crash in October 2009 at a ceremonial unveiling of a memorial sculpture at the airline’s headquarters in Auckland. The sculpture - Momentum- was designed by Christchurch artist Phil Price.
Memorial trip
Air New Zealand has arranged for a small group of people to travel to Antarctica on a United States Air Force C-17 aircraft to conduct a memorial service on the 30th anniversary. The group will include five representatives of passengers and crew, drawn by ballot, the Dean of Christchurch, the Very Reverend Peter Beck, who will conduct the memorial service, and a representative each from the New Zealand Government and Air New Zealand.
Two representatives of Television New Zealand will broadcast and document on video the ceremonies to be shared with families of all those lost in the crash. The families will also have the opportunity to contribute messages to a capsule which will be left adjacent to the memorial cross on Mt Erebus.
Perpignan crash
In a tragic coda to the Erebus disaster, 29 years to the day later, an Air New Zealand Airbus A320 crashed into the sea off Perpignan, France, killing all seven on board, five New Zealanders and two Germans.
Memorial services
Air New Zealand will also hold services in Auckland and Christchurch to mark both the 30th anniversary of Erebus and the first anniversary of the A320 accident in Perpignan.
Erebus disaster resources
Our online resources
- Erebus - a guide for children from New Zealand disasters.
- Selected Erebus-related newspaper articles from the Christchurch City Libraries Papers Index.
- Mad Cap Journeys - books about journeys to the poles.
- The Christchurch City Council Antarctic Connections brochure has details of Christchurch’s many links with Antarctica and where you can see them.
- The totem pole - a gift for Christchurch’s hospitailty to Operation Deep Freeze staff.
Our Internet Gateway recommends
- Erebus Disaster in the New Zealand Herald
- Current and past stories published in the New Zealand Herald relating to the Erebus disaster. Includes photo gallery.
Erebus.co.nz- Website about the disaster created by the New Zealand Airline Pilots’ Association - includes schools section for students and teachers.
- Erebus Disaster
- New Zealand History online resources.
- Sound Archives
- Radio New Zealand archive audio including original reports phoned in from the ice.
- TVNZ Erebus coverage
- video, archival footage, news reports and photo galleries.
Browse the resources in our libraries
Books and other resources are available from Christchurch City Libraries about the disaster. Includes the Report of the Royal Commission.
