Today I attended Air New Zealand’s Christchurch Memorial Service commemorating the 30th Anniversary of the Mt Erebus air accident and the first anniversary of the air accident off the coast of Perpignan, France. It was a very moving experience.
I was having a drink in the small bar at the White Heron Lodge (over the road from Christchurch Airport) on the 28th November 1979 when one of the airport staff came in to say that the Antarctica flight had not returned. I can’t recall exactly when it was confirmed that the plane had gone missing, but it was a very sombre night.
I was a law student at the time and I well remember the inquiry that followed . I bought a copy of the Mahon report as soon as it was published and read it cover to cover. Although the media focussed on the language – the ”pre-determined plan of deception” and “the orchestrated litany of lies”, I remember the list of about 10 things he listed, the absence of any one of which may well have meant the accident would not have happened. Some of these were influenced by human action or inaction – others, like the white-out conditions, were not. It reinforced for me how important it is in the wake of a tragedy to get to the bottom of what has happened, to acknowledge any mistakes, to say sorry where apologies are due, to take responsibility for those mistakes and to learn from them so that the risk of a tragedy occurring again is diminished. Preventable deaths cause pain beyond the loss, because there is always the “if only…” that can act to disrupt the path to acceptance in the grieving process. I am convinced that if those in any way responsible for what has occurred own up to mistakes and commit to rectifying them, it helps bring closure to those affected.
Today’s memorial service was timely for the families of the men who lost their lives off the coast of Perpignan, but 29 years overdue for the families who lost loved ones on Mt Erebus. But in saying that, it is never too late to say sorry and I felt that Air New Zealand’s apology was genuine and heartfelt and that they had learned the lessons so tragically evidenced that fateful day 30 years ago.
All the best to the families that lost loved ones in the crash.
@ Lianne Dalziel
“I can’t recall exactly when it was confirmed that the plane had gone missing”.
As a former employee of the Met. Service, I was on duty the afternoon and evening of the Erebus disaster so I can give you the sequence of events leading up to the discovery of the wreckage.
The first air-ground communication came through about 2.30pm advising that the aircraft was out of contact. That in itself was no cause for alarm because communication technical problems were quite common in those days. About an hour later a second advisory came through to say it was still out of contact. Finally around 5 pm the highest level report codenamed in those days “DISTRESSA” was received but it was not until around 8pm that Air NZ publicly announced the disappearance of the aircraft. If my memory serves me correctly a US Airforce helicoptor from the American base in Antarctica discovered the wreckage at approx 1 am in the morning.
Well said.
I’m a bit of a cynic when it comes to public apologies. The quivering penitent uttering mea culpa beneath the media spotlights has, over recent years, become something of a stage-managed perception-shifting PR spectacle. This has not been the case with Air New Zealand.
The sincerity of the apology was made manifest before it was even uttered in the way the company conducted itself following last year’s tragedy off the coast of France. It was apparent to me then that Air New Zealand had learned from Mt Erebus. And long may we all remember them.
Many thanks Lianne – what a small and powerful word “sorry” is and what an important process for dealing with mistakes you have outlined. I do hope what you have written reaches many who could be motivated to learn from it.
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