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On November 28, 1979, an Air New Zealand jet took off from Auckland Airport on a sightseeing trip to Antarctica. There were 257 people on board. Hours later everyone was dead.
Somehow, the plane had flown directly into the Erebus volcano. This was a disaster that shattered a country’s psyche.
In the decades since, grief gave way to blame, anger and recrimination. Who was responsible for so many deaths? Was there a cover-up? How could a plane just fly into a mountain?
To mark the 40th anniversary of the disaster, Michael Wright and Katy Gosset explore why New Zealand’s deadliest disaster was also its most controversial; why a nation was incapable of moving on; and how it was captured by one famous phrase: ‘an orchestrated litany of lies’.
where to listen
You can listen to the podcast directly from this page, or through your favourite podcast app, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or via an RSS feed.
01
The break-in
On November 28, 1979, an Air New Zealand DC10 took off from Auckland Airport on a sightseeing trip to Antarctica. It never returned. What do the families remember of that fateful day?
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Episode 02 available on 9 November
02
The caravan
Whose fault was it? Investigators sift through the evidence and reach a shocking conclusion.
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Episode 03 available on 10 November
03
All hell
With the pilots’ reputations in tatters, a second investigation into the crash unearths appalling mistakes and a sensational new theory for what caused the crash.
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Episode 04 available on 11 November
04
The Lovesong of J Alfred Prufrock
‘An orchestrated litany of lies’ is ingrained into New Zealand’s collective consciousness. Justice Peter Mahon didn’t have to say that, but he did. It would prove the making of him, and the ruin.
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Episode 05 available on 12 November
05
New World Order
In 1981, New Zealand was changing. The baby boomers had come of age, and the South African rugby tour was about to tear the country apart. When the Mahon report landed right in the middle of this, the country was ready for its first big conspiracy theory.
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Episode 06 available on 13 November
06
White Silence
40 years after the Erebus disaster, there is still no national memorial to the victims and no consensus on exactly what happened that day in 1979. Why has New Zealand been so hopelessly unable to deal with its worst-ever disaster?
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07
Playing Through
A special bonus episode of White Silence for November 28 - the anniversary of the Erebus disaster. Bringing together stories from listeners like Air NZ staff who had to work through the tragedy, a teenager's 40-year trauma finally brought to a close and an unlikely golf tournament played in the shadow of Erebus.
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08
The apology
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks to White Silence about her decision to say sorry to the families of the Erebus victims: “It all built a picture for me of unfinished business, and that wasn't right.”
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read more
video
Map explainer of flight paths
Characters
Jim Collins
Captain of flight TE901
Justice Peter Mahon
Erebus royal commissioner
Morrie Davis
Air New Zealand chief executive
Ron Chippindale
Chief air accident investigator
Sergeant Greg Gilpin
Officer in charge during body recovery
Constable Stu Leighton
Member of the police body recovery team
Arthur Cooper
Air NZ pilot, black box transcriber
Sir Jim McLay
Former Attorney-General
Paul Dykzeul
Two brothers and brother-in-law killed on Erebus
Maria Collins
Widow of Captain Jim Collins
Margarita Mahon
Widow of Justice Peter Mahon
photo
Wreckage of the Air New Zealand DC10 on Mt Erebus, 1979.
Wreckage was scattered nearly 600 metres up the mountainside.
A memorial cross made of oregon wood is erected near the crash site, December 20, 1979.
Chief inspector of air accidents Ron Chippindale with a flight data recorder (black box).
Justice Peter Mahon led the royal commission of inquiry into the Erebus disaster.
Maria Collins, widow of Captain Jim Collins, is sworn to give evidence at the royal commission.
Air New Zealand chief executive Morrie Davis resigns, May 1981, after the Mahon report severely criticised Air New Zealand for the crash.
Prime Minister Robert Muldoon was extremely critical of Justice Mahon's controversial Erebus report.
The bodies of unidentified victims are buried at Waikumete cemetery in west Auckland , February 1980.
Springbok rugby tour protesters face down police in Wellington, July 1981.
DC10 wreckage was still visible in 2004, 25 years after the crash.
Mt Erebus.
credits
WHITE SILENCE IS A JOINT PRODUCTION OF STUFF AND RNZ
WRITTEN, PRESENTED AND PRODUCED
Michael Wright and Katy Gosset
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS
Carol Hirschfeld, Keith Lynch and Kamala Hayman for Stuff and Tim Watkin and Justin Gregory for RNZ
VISUAL JOURNALIST
Jason Dorday
VIDEO EDITOR
Ryan Attwood
DESIGNER AND DEVELOPER
Sungmi Kim
DIGITAL EDITORS
John Hartevelt, Keith Lynch and Cameron Russell
SOUND ENGINEER
Alex Harmer
COMMISSIONING EDITORS
Carol Hirschfeld, Kamala Hayman and Tim Watkin
Thank you to Adam Dudding, Alex Liu, Jude Tewnion, Jeremy Ansell, Julie Glamuzina, Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision, Archives NZ, Channel 9, the Chapman archive, Wingnut Films and TVNZ.
