// RNZAF Aided Erebus Disaster Recovery
The RNZAF played an important role assisting the investigation and recovery operations in the sad aftermath of New Zealand’s greatest aviation disaster thirty years ago—the Erebus disaster.
At 1250 on 28 November 1979, Air New Zealand DC-10 Flight TE901 crashed into Mount Erebus in the Antarctic, killing all 257 people on board.
That evening, a No 5 Squadron Orion (NZ4202) under Flight Lieutenant Craig Inch flew south from Auckland, searching the DC-10’s maritime route before being recalled just over 1,000 kilometres south of Dunedin. This followed the discovery of the wreckage by an American helicopter nearly 11 hours after the crash.
On 29 November, a C-130 Hercules from No 40 Squadron, piloted by Flight Lieutenant Glendinning flew a recovery and police party of 16 to McMurdo Sound and then returned immediately to Christchurch—a total journey time of 28 hours.
Four more transport flights followed between 30 November and 12 December 1979, carrying equipment, mountaineering gear, and body bags. This difficult work also included the return of the victims’ bodies and belongings to New Zealand.