Alwyn Gordon Vette ( 9 July 1933 – 9 August 2015 ) was a New Zealand airline captain best known for his involvement in the Cessna 188 Pacific rescue and his research into the cause of the Air New Zealand Flight TE-901 crash . He spent five years in the Royal New Zealand Air Force ( RNZAF ) and 55 years as a commercial pilot . Vette was portrayed by Roy Billing in the 1988 miniseries '' Erebus : the Aftermath '' , which recounts Vette 's research into the cause of the Mount Erebus Disaster ; and by Robert Loggia in the 1993 TV movie '' Mercy Mission : the Rescue of Flight 771 '' , which recounts Vette 's experiences piloting Air New Zealand Flight 103
Flight TE-901 crash
Air New Zealand Flight 901
Gordon Vette