In a chilling video that has resurfaced, passengers on board Air New Zealand Flight 901 can be seen preparing for what they believed would be an exciting sightseeing journey over Antarctica. On November 28, 1979, the flight took off from Auckland International Airport, with 237 passengers and a guide on board. The flight, piloted by Captain Thomas James ‘Jim’ Collins and First Officer Gregory Mark ‘Greg’ Cassin, was set to offer views of the Antarctic landscape before landing in Christchurch for refueling and returning to Auckland.
Tragically, the flight never reached its destination. During the journey, the pilots lowered the aircraft below a safe altitude to provide a better view of the landscape for passengers. However, cloud layers and snow created whiteout conditions, obscuring the view and disorienting the pilots. Believing they were flying over McMurdo Sound, the plane was actually headed straight for Mount Erebus, Antarctica’s second tallest active volcano.
Moments before the crash, the plane’s warning system activated, but it was too late for the crew to react. The DC-10 aircraft crashed into the volcano, resulting in an explosion that killed all 257 people on board. Recovered film canisters from the scene included images speculated to have been taken just before impact, one of which showed fluid on the window, thought to be fuel.
Investigations into the disaster revealed that the flight crew had been briefed with a different flight plan than the one programmed into the plane’s computer. They expected to fly past Mount Erebus, not directly towards it, leading to the fatal navigation error. This disaster remains one of the deadliest in aviation history, and the resurfacing of the footage serves as a haunting reminder of the tragic event.
