EREBUS Our worst disaster:40 years on

WE REMEMBER FLIGHT TE901, THE CRASH THAT DEVASTATED A NATION

When Maria Collins’ husband left for work on the morning of November 28, 1979, he was in a great mood – he was excited.

What lay ahead of the 45-year-old wasn’t his typical day on the job and he was, no doubt, looking forward to telling his young family all about what he had seen when he returned home for tea that night.

An experienced pilot of more than 20 years, Captain Jim Collins was flying flight TE901 from Auckland Airport to Antarctica for an 11-hour return sightseeing trip – his first time to the continent.

It is a day now forever known as one of New Zealand’s most tragic – a day when 257 lives were lost on the lower slopes of Mount Erebus.

This week, we remember those who perished in the disaster, as well as recognising the countless lives that were forever changed.

First, we go back in time to May 18, 1981. Eighteen months had passed since Maria got a phone call that made her blood run cold, when Captain Dave Eden, the director of flight operations at Air New Zealand called to let her know they were getting concerned about Jim’s flight.

“We haven’t heard from him for a while. Are you on your own?” he asked.

By 9pm, hope had all but disappeared as she watched broadcaster Philip Sherry say the aircraft had by now run out of fuel and there was still no sign of it.

What came next was a living nightmare for Maria, who opened up to the Weekly about the aftermath of our worst aviation disaster in history.

MARIA’S FIGHT FOR THE TRUTH

For the widow of Captain Jim Collins the distress of the past 18 months – during which with other crew relatives she feels she has had to shoulder the brunt of the blame for the Mount Erebus disaster – has been eased by the “hollow victory” of the Royal Commission report.