Erebus Disaster: Tourist Flights

from the TVNZ archive: Field footage of Air New Zealand DC-10 Flight 901 tourist flights over Antarctic area and Mount Erebus (filmed one week prior to crash of Flight 901 as part of a National Film Unit, Air New Zealand co-production).

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Erebus
• Disaster
• TVNZ
• Air
• New
• Zealand
• Scott
• Bass
• Antarctica
• crash
• tragedy

[blanchelincoln]

Who was that doing the commentary on this flight?

[alneal100]

The Tistar had an "S' duct on center (#2) engine ...similar to the #2 engine on B-727.

[Pullisto]

@cchris874 (2) Douglas built em though, DC- 3 onward, (so does Boeing I agree) there was a DC-8 that undershot landed in San Francisco harbour in the 60s, half submerged, but they got it out and it flew again.

[Pullisto]

@cchris874 Biman’s ok, a bit rough on edges, (loos especially) but they were very good to me, and as the seemingly only non Bangadeshis, boarded me first, and when I had to layover at Dhaka airport in transit for another Biman flight they gave me a meal to at in the airport. Loved the retro styled DC-10 cabin, which was a trip back to the golden age of widebody jet travel, and the roomy high ceiling.

[cchris874]

@Pullisto

What had me worried in your last post is not the 10, but Biman Bangladesh. I'm glad you came out in one piece. . . . Yes, it has been said MD planes were built with stronger airframes, and in truth the 10 actually had a somewhat better record overall than the 747, for reasons that are not quite clear. . . . AAcrash, the NTSB also cited MD for design, and it has also to be said MD never stated AA's procedures were unsafe per se.

:)

[Pullisto]

I’d say it must have something to do with bad publicity, as I’ve never seen a coffin anywhere near that shape. And the plane was and is very robust, a hall mark of McD planes, (hence many still fly as freighters, over 30 years old) it was just the minor but deadly lock catch that let the ’10 down, (all was fine once rectified) and improper maintenance on the engine pylon in the AA crash. In 2008 I specially flew on a Biman Bangladesh DC-10, 30 years old, still going strong, no worries.

[cchris874]

@Pullisto

"Dolphin-like" Well you have a point. The 10 to me looks overall coffin shaped (I'm sure this has something to do with all the bad publicity the plane got in the 70s.) Another favorite of mine in the same rough size range was the 747SP. It has been called stubby for sure, but I have very fond memories of flying it. It was a more personal sized 747, and flew typically higher than other planes of its time making it smoother.

[Pullisto]

@cchris874 Subjective I guess, you maybe have a point re the TriStar's moulded in rear engine, but the ’10 has the bullet shaped equal symmetrically curved nose profile top and bottom, with distinctive windscreen, the TriStar has a ‘dolphin like’ nose. The 10’s wings are just back far enough, engines close, she looks finally balanced, a looker alright. Like the DC-3 and 8, they are just unmistakable. That said I do like the TrisStar too, but not as much as the Beautiful Big 10.

[cchris874]

@Pullisto

That is interesting as I've always thought the 10 to be rather ugly, especially compared to its close rival the Tristar, whose rear engine is more elegantly incorportated into the tail structure. But in the old NZ livery almost anything would look good !

[Pullisto]

Great never seen before footage of the classy DC-10s, NZ’s first wide body, over the ice. They looked great in the Air NZ livery of the time. Today only one ex Air NZ example is still intact, ex ZK-NZQ, (the one after the ill fated ZK-NZP), in an Arizona boneyard. She should be brought to NZ for static preservation as a memorial to those on flt TE901, as well as museum gallery of the disaster, and national aviation heritage. The Big 10 has to easily be the most elegant subsonic jetliner.