"SAD" .... I didn't know old Mac/JOB had passed on .... thanks for the HU Nathan.
In regard to Erebus ....
It's possibly "the most complex" accident that has ever occurred in commercial aviation history (even some, at professional level, fail to comprehend a number of factors which transpired to actually result in its occurrence), but, for the sake of its having happened .... in the first instance .... something like it is, now, extremly unlikely to ever happen again. This particular accident .... horrendous though it was .... "DID/HAS" made the industry more alert .... and the world (in respect of both polar and non-polar regions alike) a much safer place to fly in.
Erebus was particularly close to the bone .... "for me".
The reason for that is because my girlfriend .... at the time (we were both in college together during 1979 .... only she's since passed away at the relatively young age of 45) .... were intending to be on TE901 .... on the November 28th 1979 flight. Due to my own end of year university entrance examinations earlier during November of that year .... "the 28th", being the final flight of the season, was also the only flight available to us.
For a variety of reasons, and only days prior to the flight, circumstances then intervened .... and "their but for the grace of God we went not" (shall we say) .... whilst 257 others did go .... and of course never returned alive.
I remember that day very vividly too .... bright blue skies and brilliant sunhine as it was aduring that entire day .... in the form of a typical pre-summer New Zealand day. And I remember very late that afternoon when reports first began filtering through the media that the aircraft had not been heard from for some hours and was "overdue" .... then .... at around 21:30 that very same evening it being similarly announced, again by the media, that the aircrafts fuel reserves would most certainly have been exhausted .... then shortly after midnight it finally being reported that the aircrafts wreckage had now been located on the slopes of Mount Erebus .... and there were "no apparent survivors".
All of this sent an icy old chill .... right up my spine.
It continues to both haunt, as well as intrigue, me still today .... even some 37 years after the actual event .... and more-so in regard to exactly what went on "at government level" (that unfolded later .... it's perhaps important to understand that the airline was, at that time, a 100% state owned enterprise) to try supress/conseal evidence, in order to avoid culpability/limit liability .... rather than being remembered as a potentially close call for me, and my girlfiend, and for the horrendous disaster that it actually became.
The state and corporate carelessness which promoted the accidents occurrence (not at all perpetrated by the crew of that particular flight), and the tactics/"legal blame game" which prevailed later and throughout its investigation are both legendary within New Zealand as well as being a reflection of both the government and airline management
"of that particular era". The airline quickly recovered .... and moved forward. That is the way of the aviation industry. The airline, today, the pain/wounds of the Erebus disaster behind it, has evolved into an entirely different company .... and one of the worlds most "highly regarded" international airlines as it now enters its 76th year of international operations (1940 - 2016).
In my/our particular case a lot of things changed due to Erebus .... just as a great deal many more things could have changed (not happened at all) had I/we joined the 257 others aboard this particular flight that day also .... BUT .... we just move on.
It's not the only near escape, or fright, I've had in relation aviation since, but, there's no point in letting these sorts of things scare one (allowing that simply doesn't make any sence .... at all .... to me). If one is serious, and keen, about aviation .... THEN .... one dismisses the past (with grace and thanksgiving) .... and just gets back on the horse to ride once again.
Tomorrow is a new day .... and the future a different and hopefully better experience
Mark C
AKL/NZ