Jacinda Ardern apologises for Air New Zealand Erebus tragedy at 40th anniversary event

Thursday, 28 November 2019

The final moments aboard Air New Zealand flight TE901 before it crashed into Mount Erebus. Warning: the content of this video may be upsetting to some people.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has offered a 'whole-hearted' and 'wide-ranging' apology to the surviving family members of the Erebus disaster.

'After 40 long years… setting down grief will only be made harder if we don't accept past wrongs,' Ardern said.

On November 28, 1979, Air New Zealand flight TE901 took off from Auckland Airport on a sightseeing trip to Antarctica. There were 257 people on board, including 20 crew. Hours later everyone was dead after the plane flew directly into the Erebus volcano near Scott Base.

'That loss, in itself, was huge,' Ardern told hundreds of relatives of victims at a memorial event on Thursday.

PM Jacinda Ardern pictured at Thursday's press conference offering an apology to the Erebus families on behalf of the Government.

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'It sent ripples and trauma across the country. But that loss and grief was compounded and undeniably worsened by the events that followed,' Ardern said at the event at Government House in Auckland.

Ardern said she wanted to recognise and give the apology that had stood in the way of a family's right to freely set down their grief for so many years.

The twisted wreckage from the crashed Air New Zealand DC-10 plane litters the slopes of Mount Erebus.

'The time has come to end piecemeal acknowledgement.

'After 40 years, on behalf of today's Government, the time has come to apologise for the actions of an airline then in full state ownership; which ultimately caused the loss of the aircraft and the loss of those you loved.'

The Erebus tragedy was the subject of two official reports, the first of which blamed pilot error, while the second blamed Air New Zealand's navigation system, Ardern said.

Frank Christmas takes his seat as Air New Zealand flight TE901 flies over Antarctica.

While the latter inquiry was marred with accusations of conspiracy and false information, no challenge was made to the finding that 'convincingly clears' the pilot and first officer of the plane.

'The pilots were not responsible for this tragedy, I stand here today to state that again,' Ardern said.

'But those findings were not accepted by our Government then. That was wrong, it caused trauma on top of grief, and persecution on top of pain.'

Air New Zealand chairwoman Dame Therese Walsh echoed the Prime Minister's apology.

'I apologise on behalf of an airline who failed its duty of care, and I apologise for the way those families were treated. Better care should have been taken of you,' Walsh said.

New Zealand Air Line Pilots' Association said the apology from the Prime Minister was a 'game changer'.

President Captain Andrew Ridling said the Erebus disaster and the tumultuous events that followed had a lasting effect on aviation in New Zealand and on relationships with Air New Zealand.

'The pilots on board the aircraft that day were subject to unfair conjecture and blame that affected their professional reputations,' Ridling said.

'It's impossible to underestimate the effect of just a few words. It's very important to us and the families to hear the Prime Minister say the pilots were not responsible for this tragedy.

'We have waited a very long time to see that put right. Our thoughts are now with the families of the crew and every passenger who was on board the aircraft that day.'

'VINDICATED'

Kathryn Carter, the daughter of pilot Captain Jim Collins said her family felt 'vindicated' after the acknowledgment and apology from both the Prime Minister and Air New Zealand.

'It's incredible they've decided to acknowledge the pilots weren't to blame for what happened that day and fantastic for our family to hear.

'The dead can't come back, but at least now they can rest in peace.'

Antartica's Mt Erebus captured at the back.

Carter said her mother, Maria Collins was delighted by the news.

'After 40 years, I don't think she thought this would happen in her lifetime.'

The family were spending the evening in with a family meal, to talk and celebrate being together, Carter said.

More than 480 family members of those who lost their lives in the Erebus disaster gathered for the 40th memorial event.

Several other guest speakers addressed the audience, including a representative of Ngāti Whātua, Auckland Mayor Phil Goff, and Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy.

Earlier, about 80 people gathered at the Erebus Crew Memorial Garden at Auckland Airport to pay respects to the 20 men and women who lost their lives while at work.

Transport Minister Phil Twyford said the disaster 'was an event that changed our nation' and changed the way we think about aviation safety.

'There is an expectation, rightly held, that when our loved ones go to work, they come home safely.'

After wreaths were laid on a memorial plaque, tears were shed by descendants and former colleagues of the fallen crew during a minute's silence at 1.49pm – the time of the crash.

Flowers have been left at the Erebus Crew Memorial Garden at Auckland Airport.

Twenty monarch butterflies were released, one for each fallen crew member, some of which flew away while others landed to feed on flowers placed at the memorial plaque.

EVENING MEMORIAL

At a dinner held by the honourable company of air pilots to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Erebus disaster, Chairman of the company, Allan Boyce said the apology from Jacinda Ardern and Air New Zealand earlier in the day had been 'earth shattering'.

Boyce was the standby co-pilot for the Erebus flight and said he still felt a lot of emotions over that day and still remembers it vividly.

'I could have been on that flight which took me a long time to process,' Boyce said.

'Many of the families affected by the tragedy, myself included, didn't think there would ever be an apology like the one we heard today, it was an absolute surprise.'

Aviation Chaplain Dr Rev Richard Waugh, said he also remembered the Erebus tragedy vividly and had been 22-years-old at the time.

Waugh was heavily involved with getting a memorial site set up for the tragedy and said it was a 'pastoral oversight' that a memorial had not been made sooner.

He said on Tuesday a final decision would be made by the Waitemata Local Board on whether a planned memorial would go ahead at the Parnell Rose Gardens.