What happened
On 27 November 1979, Air New Zealand Flight TE901, a DC10-30 with registration ZKNZP, departed Auckland Airport for a non-scheduled domestic scenic flight to Antarctica. The flight was intended to visit several locations, including McMurdo, before returning via Christchurch. The aircraft was operated by a crew consisting of a captain, two first officers, and two flight engineers, alongside fifteen cabin crew members and an experienced flight commentator.
During the approach to McMurseb, the crew encountered varying weather conditions. While some areas were clear, parts of the route were obscured by clouds. Despite established minimum altitude requirements for instrument and visual meteorological conditions, the captain decided to descend the aircraft significantly. The descent began from 10,000 feet and continued through 5,700 feet, eventually reaching an indicated 1,500 feet as the aircraft performed turns near Ross Island.
As the aircraft progressed, the crew experienced difficulties maintaining VHF radio contact and the distance measuring equipment failed to lock onto the local navigation system. Shortly after completing a final descent, the DC10-30 struck an ice slope on Ross Island at 0050 hours (Z). The impact caused the aircraft to break up immediately, followed by a large fire in the cabin area. There were no survivors among the passengers or crew.
Findings
Investigations into the crash revealed several critical contributing factors:
- The captain made the decision to continue the flight at a low altitude toward an area where surface and horizon definition were poor, while the crew was uncertain of their exact position.
- Inaccurate briefing materials and maps had depicted a flight path over sea-level ice, whereas the actual planned track passed over high terrain reaching 12,450 feet.
- The crew failed to adequately monitor their position relative to the topography despite having functional navigation systems available.
- An error in the flight plan computer had persisted for 14 months, involving a longitude discrepancy of approximately two degrees.
- The aircraft's altimeter was not set to the correct pressure setting until the plane had already descended to 3,500 feet.
- The descent into the area was conducted in violation of established company and regulatory altitude minima.