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 . The Air New Zealand flyover service , for the purposes of Antarctic sightseeing , was operated with McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 aircraft and began in February 1977 . The flight crashed into Mount Erebus on November 28 , 1979 , killing all 257 people on board . Passenger photographs taken seconds before the collision removed all doubt of whiteout conditions or the " flying in a cloud " theory , showing perfectly clear visibility well beneath the cloud base , with landmarks to the left and to the right of the aircraft visible . Further investigation of the crash showed an Air New Zealand navigational error 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 February 17 , 1980 . During the Antarctic summer , snow melt on the flanks of Mount Erebus continually reveals debris from the crash ; it is visible from the air
Air New Zealand Flight 901
Air New Zealand Flight 901
Mount Erebus