Chapter III: Part 3

During 1977 the co-ordinates for each waypoint which comprised the Antarctic routes had not been stored on magnetic tape for automatic retrieval and insertion into the navigation computer units of the aircraft. Instead the flight plan was dealt with manually and upon issue to the aircrew at the time of departure was manually typed by the pilot concerned into the aircraft computer units. When the Air New Zealand ground based computer was used in 1978 to produce computerised Antarctic flight plans they followed the same format as those that had been produced earlier. But before the ground computer could be programmed it had been necessary for an officer of the navigation section to prepare a written worksheet containing all the waypoints and their respective latitude and longitude co-ordinates which then were transcribed from the worksheet. And by reference to the original flight plan used in February 1977 this was done by Mr Hewitt, one of the four members of the navigation section at airline headquarters. He said in evidence before the Royal Commission that when he went on to take from his written worksheet the longitude co-ordinates of the McMurdo waypoint he mistakenly transcribed the correct figures of 166° 48' as 164° 48' by inadvertently typing the figure "4" twice. This had the effect of moving the McMurdo waypoint 25 nautical miles to the west and once in the aircraft's system the navigation track which then it would follow from Cape Hallett when under automatic control would be over the[1] Sound rather than directly to Williams Field.

At this point it should be mentioned that the print-out of a flight plan shows not merely the co-ordinate waypoints but also a finely calculated statement of the direction and distance between them. This last information is obtained independently from what is called the NV90 programme of the computer which is able automatically to calculate the rhumb line track and distance between each of the respective waypoints once the co-ordinates have been fed into it. This information forms the basis for the data required to produce the computerised flight plan. So that finally when a print-out of the plan is obtained it will disclose not merely the geographical co-ordinates for each waypoint but the true track direction and the distance in nautical miles from one to the next. That last information is needed prior to a flight departure in order to calculate tonnages of fuel during the prospective journey and accordingly as a flight proceeds it enables the quantity of fuel already consumed to be checked against the anticipated consumption in the flight plan print-out. Thus the precise track and distance is used for purposes of fuel calculations and has importance as a check in navigation.

All this information is disclosed on page 96 of the Royal Commission Report where the print-out is shown for the flight plan with the co-ordinates for McMurdo showing the longitude as 164° 48' east. In the next column the track direction is given as 188.9° (grid) and the distance between Cape Hallett and McMurdo as 337 miles. On the facing page 97 there is a print-out of the flight plan actually used on the fatal flight which shows the correction made to the longitude, 166° 58' east. It will shortly be mentioned that when that correction was made the navigation section say it was thought to involve a minor movement of only 2.1 miles or 10 minutes of longitude. Despite the very small change that this could make to the track and distance between the two points a re-calculation was made and entered into the computer programme as 188.5° (grid) and the distance 336 miles. Compared with the other figures the difference seems minimal but it was still thought necessary to assess it and it was done.

The Western Waypoint

The circumstances surrounding the use of the 164° 48' E figures were in issue before the Royal Commission. It was suggested against the airline they had not been introduced accidentally: that the movement of the position 25 miles to the west had been deliberate. If that were so it would seem that a re-calculation of track and distance would have been needed and made both for the fuel plan and also as a check for purposes of navigation. However, no re-calculation of track and distance was made and entered with the 164° 48' co-ordinate. The figures which actually appear for track and distance to that point remain precisely the track and distance figures which were shown in the flight plan to the 166° 48' point for the first flight in February 1977. For purposes of comparison a calculation to the "false" waypoint was prepared and put before the Royal Commission. It showed that a direct track from Cape Hallett to that point is actually 191° and the distance 343 miles. The point is referred to in paragraph 230 of the Report within a section headed "The creation of the false McMurdo waypoint and how it came to be changed without the knowledge of Captain Collins".

In paragraph 229 it is said that submissions had been put to the Commissioner that "the shifting of the McMurdo waypoint was done deliberately so as to conform" with a track used by military aircraft proceeding to Williams Field. Then in paragraph 230 there is a summary of contrary arguments advanced by members of the navigation section to support their claim of accident. They include--

"(c) It was pointed out that if the McMurdo waypoint had been
intentionally moved 25 miles to the west, then the flight plan
would have a corresponding change to the track and distance
information which it previously contained. Instead of a true
heading from Cape Hallett to the NDB of 188.9° and a distance of
337 nautical miles, there would have been required, in respect of
the changed McMurdo waypoint, a true heading of 191° and 343
nautical miles. Similar alterations would have had to be made in
respect of a return journey to the true north."

That is the matter already outlined. Concerning it the Commissioner said in paragraph 234 that there was "considerable validity in this point" although then he added:

"... the Navigation Section may have thought it not necessary to
alter the track and distance criteria from Cape Hallett to McMurdo
for the reason that the pilots were accustomed to flying on Heading
Select down this sector and not by reference to the fixed heading
programmed into the AINS."

There is a further argument of the navigation section which is summarized in paragraph 230 (e)--

"It was submitted that an alteration to the McMurdo waypoint to
facilitate better sightseeing was not valid because flight captains
had a discretion to deviate horizontally from the flight plan
track."

The Commissioner accepted that point as "a valid objection" in answer to the suggestion that the move had been deliberate (paragraph 236).

However when he came in paragraph 255 (a) to express his final conclusion upon this general question he initially said this--

"The first question is whether the programming of the McMurdo
waypoint into the 'false' position before the commencement of the
1978 flights was the result of accident or design. On balance, it
seems likely that this transposition of the McMurdo waypoint was
deliberate."

There is reference at that point to a track and distance diagram indicating a track down McMurdo Sound, and the sub-paragraph then continues--

"So as I say, I think it likely that the change of the McMurdo
destination point was intended and was designed by the Navigation
Section to give aircraft a nav track for the final leg of the
journey which would keep the aircraft well clear of high ground."

Then the final portion of paragraph 255 (a) leaves the matter in the following half-way situation--

"However, I propose to make no positive finding on this point. I
must pay regard to the circumstance strongly urged upon me by
counsel for the airline in their closing submissions, namely, that
if the alteration was intentional then it was not accompanied by
the normal realignment of the aircraft's heading so as to join up
with the new waypoint. As I say, I think this latter omission is
capable of explanation but it is a material fact in favour of the
Navigation Section which I cannot disregard, and it is the single
reason why I refrain from making a positive finding that the
alteration of the waypoint was intentional."

It may be that in speaking of a single reason in the last sentence of the extract the Commissioner put aside his earlier unqualified conclusion that the matter set out in paragraph 230 (e) was also "a valid objection" to the suggestion that the waypoint had been moved deliberately. In any event the eventual and significant finding concerning the matter is contained in the following sub-paragraph 255 (b):

"I believe, however, that the error made by Mr Hewitt was
ascertained long before Captain Simpson reported the cross-track
distance of 27 miles between the TACAN and the McMurdo waypoint,
and I am satisfied that because of the operational utility and
logic of the altered waypoint it was thereafter maintained by the
Navigation Section as an approved position."

At this point it is necessary to explain the reference in that sub-paragraph to Captain Simpson; and then, if it be assumed that "the altered waypoint ... was thereafter maintained ... as an approved position", it is necessary to understand the reasons given by the Commissioner for the change back to Williams Field. If the altered waypoint had been adopted as a better position why was it then thought that it had to be discarded?

Correction of co-ordinates

It was not until 14th November 1979 that any question arose about the McMurdo waypoint. On that day Captain Simpson had taken the second November 1979 sightseeing flight to the Antarctic and something persuaded him to raise the matter of the southern waypoint with Captain Johnson, the Flight Manager Line Operations. There is a difference of opinion as to precisely what was said by Captain Simpson to Captain Johnson but according to the evidence of those in the navigation section they thought that when they checked up-to-date records of the co-ordinates at McMurdo Station against the original NV90 flight plan what had been brought forward for notice was the small difference of 10 minutes of longitude to which reference has been made. They said this represented the recent relocation of the tactical air navigation system (the TACAN) at Williams Field. Accordingly Mr Brown of the navigation section wrote into his worksheet a corrected position of 77° 52.7' S and 166° 58' E and entered those figures into the system on 16th November. But the amendment was not made in the live flight planning system until the early hours of 28th November. According to the members of the navigation section all this was done without knowledge that the effect of introducing the amended figures would be to override "164° 48'" and so alter the co-ordinate by 2° 10' rather than 10'.

The Commissioner rejected the explanations he had heard to the effect that Captain Simpson's information seemed to point to quite a minor movement to the up-dated position of the TACAN. He stated that there appeared to have been clear advice by Captain Simpson that the "false" waypoint was 27 miles west of it. In addition he rejected the possible explanation that the advice had been misinterpreted by Captain Johnson to whom it had been given, and he adopted instead what in paragraph 245 he described as "the second explanation":

"(b) The second explanation is that both Captain Johnston and the
Navigation Section knew quite well that the McMurdo waypoint lay 27
miles to the west of the TACAN and that since his track had not
officially been approved by the Civil Aviation Division it should
therefore be realigned with the TACAN and then someone forgot to
ensure that Captain Collins was told of the change. Such an
interpretation means that the evidence as to the alleged belief of
a displacement of only 2.1 miles is untrue."

Then in paragraph 255 (d) he said this:

"If, as I have held, the Navigation Section knew the actual
position of the McMurdo waypoint as being 27 miles to the west of
the TACAN, then why did they not submit to Captain Johnson, or to
flight Operations Division, that the waypoint should remain where
it was? One view is that the Flight Operations Division expected,
in terms of Captain Johnson's letter to the Director of Civil
Aviation dated 17 October 1979, that the next edition of the Ross
Sea chart NZ-RNC4 would contain the official Air New Zealand flight
path to McMurdo, and that the safest course would be to put the
destination point back to the approximate location at which Civil
Aviation Division had thought it had always been."

That last suggestion was not put to any of the navigation witnesses at the Inquiry. It implies that although those in the navigation section believed the airline had been using a computer track to the west of Ross Island for the past year because it was the better route they nevertheless suddenly became uneasy lest knowledge of the matter would now reach the Civil Aviation Division which had not given its official blessing to the change. The idea apparently is that because the airline might receive an official rebuke the officers in the section made their own independent decision that the route must once again be directed back over Mt. Erebus.

There was no evidence at all before the Royal Commission that the approval of the Civil Aviation Division was needed for a change from the direct Cape Hallett/McMurdo route. An affidavit in support of the present application for review indicates that if the matter had been raised at the Inquiry members of the navigation section would have wished to present evidence from the Civil Aviation Division that "a change of route from the direct route to the McMurdo Sound route would not have required CAD approval and therefore could have been lawfully accomplished by the airline without reference to CAD". That situation may have been anticipated by the Commissioner himself for by reference to the false waypoint and the earlier consequential movement of the computer flight track down McMurdo Sound to the west he said that although approval of the route by the Civil Aviation Division should have been obtained it "would have been automatic" (paragraph 150).

In paragraph 255 (f) of the Report the explanation from all four members of the navigation section is described in the following way:

"In my opinion this explanation that the change in the waypoint was
thought to be minimal in terms of distance is a concocted story
designed to explain away the fundamental mistake, made by someone,
in failing to ensure that Captain Collins was notified that his
aircraft was now programmed to fly on a collision course with Mt.
Erebus."

That finding is one of those directly challenged in the present proceedings.

Advice of the Change

A different matter was considered by the Commissioner in relation to the change made in November 1979 to move the waypoint back to the TACAN at Williams Field. As usual a signal was sent to the United States base at McMurdo with advice that the aircraft was to fly to the Antarctic on 28th November and the flight plan for the journey. And in the list of waypoints appears the word "McMurdo" in lieu of the geographical co-ordinates which had appeared in the equivalent signal for the flight three weeks earlier. The message had been prepared by Mr Brown, one of the four officers in the navigation section.

The use of the word "McMurdo" was the subject of an idea put by the Commissioner to Mr Hewitt, who was the second of the witnesses from the navigation section. The Commissioner asked:

"I know you have explained to me how that happened but someone may
suggest to me before the enquiry is over that the object was to
thats (sic) not to reveal there had been this long standing error
in the co-ordinates and that is why the word McMurdo was relayed to
them. I take you would not agree with that"

Mr Hewitt said:

"Certainly not sir."

The suggestion had not been raised earlier at the Inquiry and it was not mentioned by anybody subsequently. In particular it was not put to Mr Brown himself when the latter was called to give evidence three months later. However the Commissioner expressed his view upon the matter in the following way. In paragraph 255 (e) he said this--

"In my opinion, the introduction of the word 'McMurdo' into the Air
Traffic Control flight plan for the fatal flight was deliberately
designed to conceal from the United States authorities that the
flight path had been changed, and probably because it was known
that the United States Air Traffic Control would lodge an objection
to the new flight path."

It will be observed that the last few words are qualified by "probably". It appears that the Commissioner was told during a visit to Antarctica that the United States authorities would not have approved a flight path over Ross Island. But there was no evidence that Air New Zealand had ever received an intimation from the United States authorities to that effect or that the navigation section had reason to think they would so object. The qualification seems to reflect that position. In the result, when the findings in the two sub-paragraphs 255 (e) and (f) are put together they reveal the theory that at one at the same time the navigation section felt obliged to conceal from officials in Wellington the use of a flight track down McMurdo Sound that was regarded favourably by officials at McMurdo Station and from officials at McMurdo Station a flight track over Ross Island that was regarded favourably by officials in Wellington.

Whiteout

In relation to the cover-up allegations that have been made against the executive officers some reference should be made to their knowledge or otherwise of the freak meteorological condition known as "the whiteout phenomenon". Did they know or suspect that such a condition must have been an explanation for what happened and yet still be determined as the Commissioner found, to promote pilot error as the cause of the crash?

It is something that can be mentioned quite briefly. The Royal Commission Report has made it clear the phenomenon can result in a loss of horizon definition and depth perception and is a great hazard for those who fly in arctic or antarctic conditions. The Commissioner found that at the critical time "air crew had been deceived into believing that the rising white terrain ahead was in fact quite flat and that it extended on for many miles under the solid overcast". This danger is something well known to those who fly regularly in those areas. Unfortunately it is not so well known by others, and as the Commissioner stated in paragraph 165 it was not understood by any of those involved in this case. He said:

"So far as I understand the evidence, I do not believe that either
the airline or Civil Aviation Division ever understood the term
'whiteout' to mean anything else than a snowstorm. I do not believe
that they were ever aware, until they read the chief inspector's
report, of the type of 'whiteout' which occurs in clear air, in
calm conditions, and which creates this visual illusion which I
have previously described and which is, without doubt, the most
dangerous of all polar weather phenomena."

It would seem that if those at airline headquarters were unaware of the deceptive dangers of the whiteout phenomenon they could not have deliberately ignored it as a factor that should be taken into account in favour of the aircrew.

Instructions of the Chief Executive

In paragraph 41 and following paragraphs there is reference to "what happened at the airline headquarters at Auckland when the occurrence of the disaster became first suspected and then known". It is explained that the navigation section became aware of the fact that when the McMurdo waypoint co-ordinates were corrected in November 1979 the movement was not one of 2.1 miles within the vicinity of Williams Field but a distance of 27 miles from longitude 164° 48' E; and that "by 30 November the occurrence of this mistake over the co-ordinates was known not only to the Flight Operations Division but also to the management of the airline. In particular it had been reported to the Chief Executive of Air New Zealand, Mr. M.R. Davis". At that point there follows the serious allegation in paragraph 45 already cited--

"The reaction of the chief executive was immediate. He determined
that no word of this incredible blunder was to become publicly
known."

On the face of it the unqualified idea expressed in that sentence is that Mr. Davis had decided to suppress from everybody outside the airline all information about the changed flight track. But if that meaning were intended it has been greatly modified in paragraph 48. There it is said--

"It was inevitable that these facts would become known. Perhaps the
chief executive had only decided to prevent adverse publicity in
the meantime, knowing that the mistake over the co-ordinates must
in the end be discovered."

Of course if the decision were merely "to prevent adverse publicity in the meantime" then such an attitude could not in any way be consistent with an attempt "orchestrated" by Mr. Davis to hid from official scrutiny what finally was held by the Commissioner in paragraph 393 to be "the single dominant and effective cause of the disaster". Despite that, paragraph 48 goes on to say this:

"This silence over the changing of the co-ordinates and the failure
to tell the air crew was a strategy which succeeded to a very
considerable degree. The chief inspector discovered these facts
after he had returned from Antarctica on or about 11 December
1979. In his report, which was published in June 1980, the chief
inspector referred to what he termed the 'error' in the McMurdo
destination point, and the fact that it had been corrected a matter
of hours before the flight left Auckland."

It is difficult to understand why the Commissioner considered "this silence over the changing of the co-ordinates and the failure to tell the air crew" had been "a strategy which succeeded to a very considerable degree". The information had been given to the chief inspector immediately on his return from Antarctica. That much is acknowledged in the two sentences that follow. It becomes apparent, however, that this was criticized not because the information had been kept away from those to whom it most certainly had to be given, those charged with the important responsibility of inquiring into the causes of the disaster. Mr. Davis was criticized for nothing more than his failure to release the material to the outside world. That is made plain by a subsequent statement towards the end of the Report which leads on to the very severe pronouncement in paragraph 377 that the Commissioner had been obliged to listen to "a predetermined plan of deception ... an orchestrated litany of lies". The relevant passage is in paragraph 374:

"The fact that the navigation course of the aircraft had been
altered in the computer had been disclosed by the chief inspector
in his report dated 31 May 1980, 6 months after the disaster. But
it was not until the Commission of Inquiry began sitting that the
airline publicly admitted that this had occurred."

The effect of the absence of general publicity that the information was given rather than its ready provision by the airline to Mr. Chippindale on the day after his return from the crash site is described in the remaining portion of paragraph 48 which continues in the following way:

"Then the chief inspector went on to say in his report (paragraph
2.5):

'The error had been discovered two flights earlier but neither crew
of the previous flight or that of the accident flight were advised
of the error by the flight despatcher prior to their departure.'

The chief inspector did not make it clear, however, that the
computer flight path of TE 901 had been altered before the flight,
and that the alteration had not been notified to the air crew. Had
that fact been disclosed in the chief inspector's report then the
publicity attending the report would undoubtedly have been
differently aligned ... the news blackout imposed by the chief
executive was very successful. It was not until the hearings of
this Commission that the real magnitude of the mistake by Flight
Operations was publicly revealed."

Concerning that last part of paragraph 48 it seems that the Commissioner's remark immediately following the extract from paragraph 2.5 is inaccurate. It appears to suggest either that the chief inspector was unaware of the fact that the alteration to the co-ordinates "had not been notified to the air crew"; or that if he had been made aware of that fact then he had failed to bring it to public attention in his report as the next sentence suggests. But Mr. Chippindale was both aware of all this and he said so. In paragraph 1.17.1 he explicitly stated:

"This error was not corrected in the computer until the day before
the flight. Although it was intended that it be drawn to the
attention of the previous crew, immediately prior to their
departure this was not done, _nor was it mentioned during the
pre-flight dispatch planning for the crew of the accident flight_".
(Emphasis added.)

The "pre-flight dispatch planning" mentioned in those last words was the occasion of final briefing of the aircrew immediately before the aircraft left Auckland on the morning of 28th November 1981.

A different comment upon paragraph 48 is central in this part of the case. It is very hard to understand why the chief executive officer of this airline should have had any duty to pass on for debate and public prejudgment the same material that in accord with his responsibility had been properly and immediately placed before the appointed official required and well equipped to assess it.

"Irrelevant" Documents

At the beginning of this judgment a different aspect of paragraph 45 is explained by contrast with the following paragraph 46 which correctly summarizes instructions given by Mr Davis for the disposal of surplus copies of documents lest they be leaked to the news media. In paragraph 46 it is explained by the Commissioner that "his instructions were that _only copies of existing documents were to be destroyed_. He said that he did not want any surplus document to remain at large in case its contents were released to the news media by some employee of the airline. The chief executive insisted that his instructions were that all documents of relevance were to be retained on the single file" (emphasis added). There was no evidence before the Royal Commission to any contrary effect. But in the preceding paragraph a different impression is given. The relevant part of paragraph 45 reads--

"He directed that all documents relating to Antarctic flights, and
to this flight in particular, were to be collected and impounded.
They were all to be put on one single file which would remain in
strict custody. Of these documents"--

that is, _all_ documents relating to the Antarctic flights--the sentence continues:

"all those which were not directly relevant were to be destroyed.
They were to be put forthwith through the company's shredder."

Then in paragraph 54 the actual instruction is taken into a further dimension where it is described as "this direction on the part of the chief executive for the destruction of 'irrelevant documents'". And one serious complaint made by the applicants about the Royal Commission Report is that what could be an understandable direction for the _retention_ of one copy on a master file _of all relevant documents_ has become an unacceptable instruction that _irrelevant documents_ (related to the Antarctic flights nonetheless) _should be destroyed_. We think the complaint is justified.

At the same early stage of the Report the Commissioner gave his attention to the question as to what if anything was done about the suppression of documentary evidence. He said in paragraph 52:

"As will be explained later, there was at least one group of
documents which certainly were in the possession of the airline as
from the day following the disaster, and which have never been seen
since. I am referring here to the flight briefing documents of
First Officer Cassin.... (He) had left his briefing documents at
home. They were recovered from his home on the day after the
disaster by an employee of the airline. As I say, they have never
been seen since."

In the following paragraph 53 he observed--"If the explanation of the chief executive is to be accepted, then in the opinion of someone the briefing documents of First Officer Cassin, the co-pilot, were thought to be irrelevant to the disaster"; and in paragraph 54--"it follows that this direction on the part of the chief executive for the destruction of 'irrelevant documents' was one of the most remarkable executive decisions ever to have been made in the corporation affairs of a large New Zealand company".

Those remarks require some brief comment. It must be explained that the "employee of the airline" mentioned at the end of paragraph 52 was Captain Crosbie. It is true that he was "an employee of the airline" but he did not go to the home of First Officer Cassin in that capacity. He had been asked by the Airline Pilots Association, the group which throughout the inquiry had very properly been concerned to protect the interests of the two deceased pilots, to act on their behalf for the purpose of bringing immediate aid and comfort to the two widows. His evidence was to the effect that he had gone to each of the homes for that purpose; that sometime later a member of Mrs Cassin's family had invited him to take away a box containing such items as flight manuals; and he said he had done no more than that. He flatly denied taking any flight documents. But even if he had, the alleged conspiracy has always been limited in the Royal Commission Report to the executive pilots and other officers in the management area. It has never been suggested that it had extended as well to the airline pilots. As may be expected, throughout both investigations they have done their conscientious best to protect the valued reputations of their deceased colleagues.

There was documentary evidence before the Inquiry to the effect that on 30th November 1979 an in-house committee of Air New Zealand met on the instruction of Mr Davis for the purpose of deciding how to collect together all available information relevant to the accident. It seems that it began its practical work on Monday 3rd December. In that regard and as an example of the way in which the applicants say the cover-up allegation could have been answered by those affected they placed material before this Court which would suggest that the formation of such a committee is a conventional step taken by an airline when confronted with any serious disaster, that it was required by this company's Accident Investigation Procedures Manual, and that this committee was appointed accordingly. If it had been before the Inquiry it would have supported the view that Mr Davis had decided the chairman should not be associated with the flight operations side of Air New Zealand and for that reason he appointed Mr Watson who had charge of certain related companies. There is also an affidavit sworn by Captain Priest who was appointed by the Airline Pilots Association to sit as its representative on the committee. Taken at its face value it is to the effect that he took part in the committee's work from the meeting on 3rd December. In the affidavit he has explained: "My position on that Committee was an ALPA watchdog--there were two other independent members"; that as the inquiry progressed "it became apparent that the committee was amassing a large amount of papers"; and that Mr Watson then announced that he had been directed by the chief executive to get all the information onto one file and any surplus disposed of to avoid information getting into the wrong hands. The affidavit indicates that it was then agreed by the committee itself that this should be done on the basis that the master file was to be available to the committee members at any time and it appears that Captain Priest joined in that decision. It is not for us to decide what would have been the effect or significance of all this material if it had been placed before the Royal Commission but since the conspiracy to deceive theory that is developed in the Royal Commission Report apparently stems from the instruction given by Mr Davis clearly the officers so gravely affected were entitled to be warned in advance and so be given the opportunity to have such information fairly and properly considered.

Search at Mt. Erebus

The issue of documentary evidence is given extended attention in a section of the Report headed, "Post-accident conduct of Air New Zealand" which is exclusively concerned with suggestions of possible items that might have been withheld from the Inquiry. The discussion is introduced at paragraph 342 by a statement that "This instruction by the chief executive for the collection of all Antarctica documents had some unfortunate repercussions". The observation is then developed by reference in particular to the work of Captain Gemmell, the technical flight manager for Air New Zealand, while assisting Mr Chippindale at the crash site.

Captain Gemmell had received instructions in the early hours of the morning of 29th November 1979 to travel to McMurdo in order to assist Mr Chippindale's investigation into the cause of the accident at the scene. However, by reason of weather conditions it was not possible for him to be taken by helicopter to the ice slope until 3 p.m. on 2nd December. Then, clad in protective clothing and roped to mountaineers, he assisted in a search for the in-flight recording equipment (consisting of the cockpit voice recorder and the "black box") and the recovery of any other equipment or documents which might indicate how the accident had happened.

Three days earlier, at about 8.30 a.m. on the very morning after the accident, three mountaineer staff members at Scott Base had managed to get there in order to search for survivors. And Mr Woodford, who was one of them, has described the scene in a letter received by the Royal Commissioner during the public hearings. The letter, which is amplified in a affidavit put before this Court, is set out later in this judgment. Mr Woodford explained that when he got to the scene he found a black flight bag with Captain Collins' name printed on it. It was lying open on the snow and it was empty. Already material in the form of books and papers that had not been destroyed when the aircraft disintegrated on impact had been blown by winds over the ice-slope or into crevasses or covered by drifting snow. He pointed out that although the cockpit voice recorder had been located quite quickly when he was back at the crash site with the party from New Zealand on 2nd December the "black box" could not be found until later that evening after it had been decided to begin digging systematically for it. It was found buried under snow at a depth, he said, of 20 to 30 cms.

But although the bag was empty it was suggested at the hearing that while at McMurdo Captain Gemmell might have "collected a quantity of documents from the crash site and brought them back to Auckland"; that only three of the flight documents carried on the aircraft had been produced to the Royal Commission; that it was "curious" to find that each favoured the case "which the airline was now attempting to advance"; and all this against counsel's theory that before Captain Gemmell had left Auckland on 29th November he was aware of possible problems associated with the amendment to the destination point co-ordinates. Captain Gemmell flatly denied having that knowledge while in the Antarctic; and he rejected totally any suggestion that he had recovered anything from the site which had not been passed across in terms of Mr Chippindale's instructions. In that regard he answered two propositions put to him by the Commissioner (at page 1834) in the following way:

"Well the suggestion may be made to me in due course that because
of the discovery that Capt Collins did not know of the alteration
in the nav track consequently someone in the co. would have been
instructed to locate whatever documents there were on the crash
site and elsewhere that might throw light on that question. You say
that no such instruction was given to you.... Certainly not.

But it would have been a reasonable instruction would it not.... No
it would not have."

Intimidation of a Witness

At this point it is necessary to mention a different suggestion which was also rejected by Captain Gemmell. It was put to him during cross-examination that he had carried back from McMurdo a blue plastic envelope containing personal property recovered from the accident site. In evidence given later by First Officer Rhodes the envelope was supposed to have been entrusted to Captain Gemmell by Mr Chippindale for delivery in New Zealand since Captain Gemmell was about to depart from the base several days before the others. First Officer Rhodes had himself been in Antarctica as a member of Mr Chippindale's investigation team, representing there the Airline Pilots Association. He appeared as a witness before the Royal Commission on two occasions. During his first appearance he was called by the Association. He did not refer then to a blue envelope; but because it was thought that the material may have been mentioned by him to the Association's counsel he was recalled to give evidence, this time by counsel for the airline.

Before turning to the evidence given by First Officer Rhodes during his second appearance it is worthwhile making a preliminary comment. No complaint has ever been made by Mr Chippindale about a missing blue envelope or papers within it. If Captain Gemmell had been entrusted with such a mission which he had failed to discharge Mr Chippindale would seem to be the first person who would want to know why. He himself gave evidence before the Royal Commission for a period of ten days and during all that time he was never asked about this matter. Nor was he recalled to deal with it after it had been raised with Captain Gemmell or after First Officer Rhodes gave his further evidence. That fact alone might be thought sufficient to dispose of the matter. And in the end the Commissioner himself decided that neither this nor other evidence could justify a finding against Captain Gemmell that he "recovered documents from Antarctica which were relevant to the fatal flight, and which he did not account for to the proper authorities".

It is necessary to describe all this because the second appearance of First Officer Rhodes resulted in a finding in paragraph 348 of the Royal Commission Report which reflects seriously upon the conduct of another executive officer of the airline, Captain Eden. The paragraph is another of those challenged in the present proceedings.

It seems that First Officer Rhodes agreed to give evidence on the second occasion in order to remove any false impression that he himself doubted the integrity of Captain Gemmell. The following extract from the transcript explains the position (a condensed version appears in paragraph 347 of the Report):

"You've already given evidence and stated your qualification. I
think you have offered to give some supplementary evidence relating
to activity at the Erebus crash site ... Our discussion with Capt.
Eden last Friday indicated this would be appreciated.

I think just as Capt. Gemmell was there representing the co. you
were there as a rep. of ALPA.... Thats correct.

May we take it that you worked in conjunction with Capt. Gemmell
and other members of the team involved.... Correct.

And in so doing you were present at the crash site with Capt.
Gemmell.... No we had different tasks as I was in the area with
Capt. Gemmell at some stages.

So far as your observations are concerned what would you have to
say regarding Capt. Gemmell's conduct and behaviour in the course
of his duties there.... I have no reason to doubt Capt. Gemmell in
any way shape or form.

Have you ever suggested otherwise to anybody.... I have not."

Then he was cross-examined by counsel for the Association whose witness he had been earlier. He was asked about Captain Gemmell's work at the actual scene of the disaster and his explanation about that matter is reflected in the following question and answer:

"Did you see Capt. Gemmell at any time in the cockpit area or
thereabouts working on his own.... I qualified that before. Working
on your own is a relative term. At all stages there would be
somebody adjacent for your own safety and well-being. I did not at
any stage see Ian Gemmell Capt. Gemmell or Ian Wood or David Graham
in total isolation in any part of the wreckage."

Then there is mention of material that may have been returned by Captain Gemmell to New Zealand--

"You heard question the other day concerning Capt. Gemmell
returning from McMurdo with an envelope containing property can you
tell us about that.... At the stage that Capt. Gemmell was
returning to N.Z. he was asked by the Chief Inspector of Accidents
if he would return to N.Z. with one or more envelopes I cannot
recall how many containing photos and perhaps other information to
be used in the conduct of the inquiry at a later date but
specifically at that early date the intention was for Capt. Gemmell
to brief the Minister and the Dir. of CAD and senior execs, of Air
N.Z. as to what had transpired at that early date in the
investigation. As Mr Chippindale would be staying in the Ant. and
the remainder of his team would be with him or else in the US.

What about private property.... The envelopes which Capt. Gemmell
return to N.Z. with may have contained some documentation from the
crash site which was beginning to return in significant quantities
from the various people on the crash site including the police."

The following portion of the cross-examination then refers to documents described as "the technical crews flying records, the collection of log books, licences and other relevant documentation". He said that at first there was reluctance on the part of Air New Zealand to release this material "as it was not clear at that stage in many peoples minds what my duties were". It was not immediately appreciated that he was acting on Mr Chippindale's behalf. He was then asked--

"And Air N.Z. and Capt. Gemmell released to you the material which
you'd previously sought.... Correct".

Concerning all this evidence the Commissioner expressed the following conclusions in paragraph 348:

"Captain Eden is at present the director of flight operations for
the airline. He appeared in the witness box to be a strong-minded
and aggressive official. It seemed clear from this further
production of First Officer Rhodes as a witness that it had been
suggested to him by Captain Eden that he should either make a
direct allegation against Captain Gemmell or else make no
allegation at all, and that since First Officer Rhodes seemed to
have no direct evidence in his possession, he was therefore obliged
to give the answer which Captain Eden had either suggested or
directed. However, First Officer Rhodes was not entirely
intimidated because as will be observed from the evidence just
quoted, he insisted on saying that Captain Gemmell had brought an
envelope containing documents back to Auckland."

Those statements are in no way related to the assessment of Captain Eden's evidence or as Captain Eden as a witness. They are observations that Captain Eden had attempted to influence or direct the evidence to be given by First Officer Rhodes by a process of intimidation. Counsel for First Officer Rhodes' own association had made no suggestion to that effect. Nor is there any hint by First Officer Rhodes himself that he was present as anything but a voluntary witness. The answer he gave to the opening question would not seem to support suspicions of intimidation. And that answer is itself followed by quite a generous tribute to Captain Gemmell. But the reputation of Captain Eden and the support given Captain Gemmell is dismissed by a finding of intimidation. It should be said as well that although Captain Eden himself appeared to give evidence three days later not a word was said to him by anybody to suggest that earlier he had been guilty of attempting to intimidate a witness.

Specific documents

To the extent that the Royal Commission Report has pointed to any particular classes of documentary material that did not reach the Inquiry the list is not a long one. It comprises--

1. Unidentified papers within the blue envelope--No complaint about
this was ever made by Mr Chippindale as we have mentioned.

2. Papers given to First Officer Cassin as briefing material--It
has been explained that if any complaint could be made about this
matter it would affect Captain Crosbie, the unnamed "employee of
the airline" referred to in paragraph 52. It was he who went to the
Cassin home for compassionate reasons as the spokesman for the
Airline Pilots Association. He denies ever receiving the material.
Even if he had, the Report has not challenged the conduct of any of
the line pilots. This matter would seem to be irrelevant.

3. Documents or papers that may have been shredded by Mr Oldfield
following the decision of the in-house committee which met during
the week beginning 3rd December 1979--This matter requires no
further discussion.

4. Pages within the cover of a ring-binder notebook of Captain
Collins--This matter too was handled by Captain Crosbie. However,
it requires some specific mention because in paragraph 352 it has
been associated with Captain Gemmell and as all counsel now
acknowledge this has been done in error. The paragraph is one of
the specific paragraphs challenged by these proceedings.

5. Briefing or other flight documents (including a New Zealand
Atlas) taken onto the aircraft within Captain Collins' flight bag;
and similar papers within a flight bag owned by First Officer
Cassin--This matter also requires discussion.

The Ring-binder Notebook

The Commissioner found that Captain Collins carried with him on the fatal flight a small pocket diary usually kept in his breast pocket; and a ring-binder losse-leaf notebook carried in his flight bag. It is said in paragraph 351 "that the chief inspector had obtained possession of the small pocket diary, but it did not contain any particulars relating to Antarctica flights". At the hearing Mrs Collins described the diary and said that on 12th December 1979 Captain Crosbie had returned it to her together with certain other items of personal property belonging to her husband. She explained that there were no pages in the ring-binder when she received it "other than some loose papers which are still folded inside the front cover". The question arose as to what had happened, to the balance of the contents of the notebook. Captain Crosbie himself was called by counsel for the Airline Pilots Association to give evidence before the Commission. He explained that his involvement in all post-accident matters was as a welfare officer for the association; and in that capacity he had been given by the police personal property for distribution to next-of-kin. When asked about pages which normally would have been within the ring-binder covers he said that most of the recovered items had been damaged considerably by water and kerosene, and in answer to the Commissioner, who had asked "How could the ring-binder cover itself be intact and yet the pad of writing paper disappear?", he said, "I suggest the cover survived the water and kerosene but the paper contents didn't". He added in answer to questions by counsel--

"If papers were removed from the ring binder who would have done
that.... I would have myself I presume.

Do you recall doing that.... No not specifically. I was involved in
destroying a lot of papers that were damaged and would have caused
distress some because of that and some because it was the obvious
thing to do."

As a further sample of the kind of material that might have been provided by the criticized officers had they been given the opportunity we were referred to a signed statement by Captain Crosbie forwarded to the police (who by then were investigating the allegations of conspiracy) on 5th May 1981. In the statement he has said after he had given evidence before the Inquiry he recalled that because of the poor condition of the notebook and severely damaged paper inside it and "rather than present this to Mrs Collins" he had disposed of the pages himself. Then having cleaned the cover he dried it in the sun and returned it to Mrs Collins. It would seem to be an understandable reaction although once again the effect this kind of material might have had if it had been put forward is not for us to assess. In any event, concerning this matter the Commissioner said in paragraph 352--

"As to the ring-binder notebook, it had been returned to Mrs
Collins by an employee of the airline, but all the pages of the
notebook were missing. _Captain Gemmell_ was asked about this in
evidence. He suggested that the pages might have been removed
because they had been damaged by kerosene. However, the ring-binder
notebook itself, which was produced at the hearing, was entirely
undamaged." (Emphasis added.)

It is clear that the Commissioner has wrongly attributed the explanation given by Captain Crosbie concerning the removal of missing pages to Captain Gemmell. The latter was never questioned at all about possible reasons for the missing pages. The fifth and sixth respondents have formally acknowledged that the reference to Captain Gemmell in that paragraph is wrong.

Contents of Flight Bags

It has been explained that the Commissioner was satisfied that Captain Collins had used the New Zealand Atlas to plot the last leg of the flight path from Cape Hallett to McMurdo and may have used a chart of his own for the same purpose. In addition there were his briefing documents and those received by First Officer Cassin. Those received by the latter have been discussed. The Commissioner held that they had not been taken aboard the aircraft. But he was concerned with whatever else may have been carried onto the DC10 by First Officer Cassin in his flight bag; and about the contents of Captain Collin's flight bag which he believed would include the atlas and briefing documents. In fact the only evidence concerning the possible survival of the first officer's flight bag, let alone its contents, was a name-tag which finally reached Mrs Cassin through Captain Crosbie, the welfare representative. Since there is no description of the contents and it has been held that the briefing material was left behind anyway, the fate of the bag itself would seem to be immaterial.

On the other hand it is known that after the accident Captain Collins' bag was seen on Mt. Erebus. The matter has been mentioned. The bag did not reach his widow as it would normally have done if it had been received and returned to New Zealand and this fact is the focus of attention in the Royal Commission report.

In order to examine the matter it will be remembered that the mountaineer, Mr Woodford, arrived by helicopter searching for survivors on the morning of 29th November. In the letter he sent to the Royal Commission he said he found the bag then and: "My recollection is that it was empty when I first inspected it. It certainly contained no diaries or briefing material." Apparently the bag had been thrown from the disintegrating aircraft at the time of impact and its contents lost in the snow or scattered by winds before the arrival of the mountaineers. But whatever the reason for their absence from the bag it is the contents that matter in this case--not the flight bag itself. And according to the letter they had already disappeared from the bag three days before the New Zealand party arrived there. So like the bag of First Officer Cassin it might be thought that this item too was immaterial. However, it is discussed by the Commissioner in the following way.

First there is listed a series of documents "which clearly had been carried in the flight bag of Captain Collins" and which had not been recovered. The items comprise the New Zealand Atlas and a chart; the briefing documents; and the ring-binder notebook. Those three items have been mentioned. And finally a topographical map issued on the morning of the flight. The suggested significance of these various documents is explained by reference to the view of counsel for the Airline Pilots Association that they "would have tended to support the proposition that Captain Collins had relied upon the incorrect co-ordinates" (paragraph 344).

There follows reference to the blue envelope and the matter of Captain Eden after which paragraph 349 speaks of the flight bag: