Memorial service for the 35th Anniversary of Erebus disaster

Pilots representing The New Zealand Air Line Pilots’ Association (NZALPA) will gather at the Manukau Memorial Gardens this morning to pay their respects to all those who lost their lives on Mt Erebus, 35 years ago today.

Pilots from the Association will lay a special wreath in memory of the crew and passengers.

At 10.30am Harvard aircraft will do a special flyover of the “missing man” formation as part of the anniversary.

NZALPA President Wayne Renwick says the Erebus tragedy and its aftermath changed the way aircraft accident investigations were carried out.

“Erebus paved the way for creating a safer environment in the air, it was the true legacy that Erebus left behind to create a safer aviation industry,” said First Officer Renwick.

“NZALPA has always championed recognition of the Mahon report being the accepted record of the disaster.

The Chippindale report is the official record however the Association believes it is now well accepted that there were errors in this report and that Justice Mahon’s investigation solved the mystery of Erebus.”

Once again the families and friends of those lost to Erebus are remembered by the New Zealand Air Line Pilots’ Association and its members on this 35th Anniversary.

The Erebus Crew Memorial

Travel on Tom Pearce Drive, towards Manukau, past Butterfly Creek and the Shell service station on the left. Turn right at the round-about and stop 100m on left. There is a little lay-by and the garden is down a pathway on your left.

For the DC 10 Crew of Flight TE 901, who lost their lives on the slopes of Mt. Erebus, Antarctica – 28 November 1979.

This garden is your special place”

An Appropriate Poem

Poet laureate Bill Manhire wrote the poem “Erebus Voices” especially for Sir Edmund Hillary to read at the church service. In the poem, Mt Erebus speaks and the people respond. Composer Christopher Cree Brown also created a musical piece especially for the occasion.

THE MOUNTAIN

I am here beside my brother, Terror.

I am the place of human error.

I am beauty and cloud, and I am sorrow;

I am tears which you will weep tomorrow.

I am the sky and the exhausting gale.

I am the place of ice. I am the debris trail.

And I am still a hand, a fingertip, a ring,

I am what there is no forgetting.

I am the one with truly broken heart.

I watched them fall, and freeze, and break apart.

The Dead

We fell.

Yet we were loved and we are lifted.

We froze.

Yet we were loved and we are warm.

We broke apart.

Yet we are here and we are whole.

ends

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