Editing Mount Erebus (section)

===Air New Zealand Flight 901===
[[File:Air New Zealand Flight 901.jpg|thumb|Wreckage of Flight 901]]
{{main|Mount Erebus disaster}}
[[Mount Erebus disaster|Air New Zealand Flight 901]] was a scheduled sightseeing service from [[Auckland Airport]] in [[New Zealand]] to [[Antarctica]] and return with a scheduled stop at [[Christchurch Airport]] to refuel before returning to Auckland.<ref name="Holmes">{{cite book |last1=Holmes |first1=Paul |title=Daughters of Erebus |date=2011 |publisher=Hodder Moa |isbn=978-1-86971-250-1 |page=31 |oclc=740446014 |language=English}}</ref> The [[Air New Zealand]] flyover service, for the purposes of Antarctic sightseeing, was operated with [[McDonnell Douglas DC-10|McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30]] aircraft and began in February 1977. The flight crashed into Mount Erebus on 28 November 1979, killing all 257 people on board. Passenger photographs taken seconds before the collision ruled out the "flying in a cloud" theory, showing perfectly clear visibility well beneath the cloud base, with landmarks visible {{convert|13|miles}} to the left and {{convert|10|miles}} to the right of the aircraft.<ref>Royal Commission Report, para 28</ref> The mountain directly ahead was lit by sunlight shining from directly behind the aircraft through the cloud deck above, resulting in a lack of shadows that made Mount Erebus effectively invisible against the overcast sky beyond in a classic [[Whiteout (weather)|whiteout]] (more accurately, "flat-light") phenomenon.<ref>Royal Commission Report, para 40(a)</ref> Further investigation of the crash showed a navigational error in flight documentation by Air New Zealand and a cover-up that resulted in about $100 million in lawsuits. Air New Zealand discontinued its flyovers of Antarctica. Its final flight was on 17 February 1980. During the Antarctic summer, snow melt on the flanks of Mount Erebus continually reveals debris from the crash that is visible from the air.<ref name="Holmes"/>