Tourists flights began in 1957 , when a Pan American Boeing 377 Stratocruiser made the first civilian flight to Antarctica . Commercial flights landed at McMurdo Sound and the South Pole in the 1960s . Routine overflights from Australia and New Zealand took place between 1977 and 1980 , transporting more than 11,000 passengers , according to Antarctica New Zealand , which manages Scott Base . One such flight , Air New Zealand Flight 901 , crashed into Mount Erebus on the eastern shores of McMurdo Sound . The crash high on the slopes of the active volcano took the lives of all 257 people aboard the aircraft
Air New Zealand Flight 901
Air New Zealand Flight 901
McMurdo Sound