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Impact Erebus
Excellent Book
- GenresNonfictionAviation
347 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1984
43 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 24, 2023
In 1979, an Air New Zealand sightseeing flight to Antarctica crashed into the slopes of Mount Erebus, which the pilot had not realized was nearby. Everyone on board died, and the sightseeing flights to Antarctica were ended. The initial investigation, led by the airline, blamed the pilot for flying too low. However, a subsequent royal commission of inquiry noted that the instructions as to minimum height were ambiguous, and - more importantly - the airline had changed the programmed flight plan after the pilot's briefing, without telling him, rendering his maps and expectations incorrect.
This book was written shortly after that, supporting the commission of inquiry. It gives the known story of the flight and pieces together a likely story of what happened in the cockpit based on the cockpit voice recorder and passengers' photos. Almost certainly (based on known weather), Mount Erebus had been rendered invisible by "sector whiteout" against the white cloudy background. The pilots had not known about sector whiteout; between not seeing the mountain and not knowing their flight plan had been changed, they flew straight into the mountain without knowing.
This book was written shortly after that, supporting the commission of inquiry. It gives the known story of the flight and pieces together a likely story of what happened in the cockpit based on the cockpit voice recorder and passengers' photos. Almost certainly (based on known weather), Mount Erebus had been rendered invisible by "sector whiteout" against the white cloudy background. The pilots had not known about sector whiteout; between not seeing the mountain and not knowing their flight plan had been changed, they flew straight into the mountain without knowing.
October 20, 2021
Inceredible book - Vette deserved a royal honour instead of a compromised career with Air NZ.
Vette's evidence based on the findings in this book was pivital in the Royal Commission of Enquiry.
The research and detail gone into in producing this book is remarkable and no doubt in no small way set the standard for subsequent air accident reviews internatuonally.
Read in conjunctiion with the subsequent book by Hon Peter Mahon QC, who wrote a forward to this book, this is an enlightening account of the culture of Air NZ during the enquiry and associated failures.
Hopefully this is compulsory reading for all pilots training in the modern age. As Vette explains in his authors note it was not his intentiion to simply clear the aircrew of blame but to dedicate the book to the improvement of flight safety.
Vette's evidence based on the findings in this book was pivital in the Royal Commission of Enquiry.
The research and detail gone into in producing this book is remarkable and no doubt in no small way set the standard for subsequent air accident reviews internatuonally.
Read in conjunctiion with the subsequent book by Hon Peter Mahon QC, who wrote a forward to this book, this is an enlightening account of the culture of Air NZ during the enquiry and associated failures.
Hopefully this is compulsory reading for all pilots training in the modern age. As Vette explains in his authors note it was not his intentiion to simply clear the aircrew of blame but to dedicate the book to the improvement of flight safety.
July 1, 2025
This is incredible book about trying to clear the crew of Flight 901. Extremely technical but makes an excellent case of what really happened.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews