Air New Zealand Flight 103
Encyclopedia
On December 22, 1978, a small Cessna
aircraft, piloted by Jay Prochnow, became lost in the Pacific Ocean
. The only craft in the area that was able to assist was a commercial Air New Zealand
flight. After several hours of searching, the crew of the Air New Zealand flight located the lost Cessna and led it to Norfolk Island
, where the plane landed safely.
. Prochnow had a colleague who was flying another Cessna alongside him. The long trip would be completed in four stages. On the morning of the 21st, both pilots took off from Pago Pago. His colleague crashed on take off, but was unharmed. Prochnow landed and set out the following day to Norfolk Island
. When Prochnow arrived at the region where he believed Norfolk Island
was, he was unable to see the Island. He informed Auckland Air Traffic Control
(AATC), but at this point there was no immediate danger. He continued searching; after locating more homing beacons from other islands, he realised his automatic direction finder had malfunctioned and he was now lost somewhere over the Pacific Ocean
. The Pacific ocean is almost 168 million km2, and he could have been almost anywhere. He alerted AATC and declared an emergency. There was only one plane in the vicinity, Air New Zealand flight 103, a DC-10
traveling from Fiji
to Auckland
. The flight had 88 passengers on board. The captain was Gordon Vette, the first officer, Authur Dovey and the flight engineer
was Gordon Brooks. Vette knew that if they did not try and help, Prochnow would almost certainly die. Vette was a navigator
, and at the time of the incident he still held his licence. Furthermore, another passenger, Malcome Fortsyth, was also a navigator; when he heard about the situation he volunteered to help. As the DC-10 did not have an onboard radar, the crew had to came up with creative ways to find the lost Cessna. By this time Prochnow had crossed the international date line and the date was now December 22.
Vette was able to use the setting sun to gain an approximate position of the Cessna. Then contact was established over a VHF radio which had a range of 200 nautical miles. It was hoped the DC-10 would be making a vapour trail to make it more visible. After contacting Auckland it was determined that weather conditions were not suitable for a trail. Brooks knew that by dumping fuel
they could produce a vapour trail. As the search was getting more and more desperate, they decided to try it. Prochnow did not see the trail, and it was starting to get dark. Vette wanted all the passengers to be involved, so he asked them to look out of the windows and invited small groups to come to the cockpit.
As it got darker and darker Prochnow considered ditching, but Vette did not want to give up. The crew of the DC-10 were able to use the exact moment of sunset to get a better fix on Prochnow's position. They also used a technique known as “aural boxing” to try to pinpoint the small plane; this took over an hour to complete. Once it had been done they had a much better approximation of Prochnow's position. The DC-10 used its strobe lights to try to make itself more visible to the Cessna. It took some time, but eventually Prochnow reported seeing light. However, this was not the DC-10, it was an oil rig, and Prochnow went towards it. This was identified as Penrod, which was being towed from New Zealand
to Singapore
. This gave Prochnow’s exact position. After some confusion about the exact position of the Penrod, it was finally established that the estimates of the crew of the DC-10 were very accurate. Furthermore, Prochnow was probably able to make it to Norfolk Island with his remaining fuel. He touched down on Norfolk Island after being in the air for twenty-three hours and five minutes.
awarded the crew a certificate of commendation for “the highest standards of compassion, judgment and airmanship."
Gordon Brooks was killed in the Air New Zealand Flight 901
disaster. He was the flight engineer.
Vette published a book about the Flight 901
disaster, called Impact Erebus.
as Prochnow and Robert Loggia
as Gordon Vette. Differences between the movie and actual events include:
Cessna
The Cessna Aircraft Company is an airplane manufacturing corporation headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, USA. Their main products are general aviation aircraft. Although they are the most well known for their small, piston-powered aircraft, they also produce business jets. The company is a subsidiary...
aircraft, piloted by Jay Prochnow, became lost in the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
. The only craft in the area that was able to assist was a commercial Air New Zealand
Air New Zealand
Air New Zealand Limited is the national airline and flag carrier of New Zealand. Based in Auckland, New Zealand, the airline operates scheduled passenger flights to 26 domestic destinations and 24 international destinations in 15 countries across Asia, Europe, North America and Oceania, and is...
flight. After several hours of searching, the crew of the Air New Zealand flight located the lost Cessna and led it to Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island is a small island in the Pacific Ocean located between Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia. The island is part of the Commonwealth of Australia, but it enjoys a large degree of self-governance...
, where the plane landed safely.
The incident
On December 21, 1978 Jay Prochnow, a retired Navy pilot, was delivering a Cessna from the USA to AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Prochnow had a colleague who was flying another Cessna alongside him. The long trip would be completed in four stages. On the morning of the 21st, both pilots took off from Pago Pago. His colleague crashed on take off, but was unharmed. Prochnow landed and set out the following day to Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island is a small island in the Pacific Ocean located between Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia. The island is part of the Commonwealth of Australia, but it enjoys a large degree of self-governance...
. When Prochnow arrived at the region where he believed Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island is a small island in the Pacific Ocean located between Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia. The island is part of the Commonwealth of Australia, but it enjoys a large degree of self-governance...
was, he was unable to see the Island. He informed Auckland Air Traffic Control
Air traffic control
Air traffic control is a service provided by ground-based controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and in the air. The primary purpose of ATC systems worldwide is to separate aircraft to prevent collisions, to organize and expedite the flow of traffic, and to provide information and other...
(AATC), but at this point there was no immediate danger. He continued searching; after locating more homing beacons from other islands, he realised his automatic direction finder had malfunctioned and he was now lost somewhere over the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
. The Pacific ocean is almost 168 million km2, and he could have been almost anywhere. He alerted AATC and declared an emergency. There was only one plane in the vicinity, Air New Zealand flight 103, a DC-10
McDonnell Douglas DC-10
The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is a three-engine widebody jet airliner manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 has range for medium- to long-haul flights, capable of carrying a maximum 380 passengers. Its most distinguishing feature is the two turbofan engines mounted on underwing pylons and a...
traveling from Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
to Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
. The flight had 88 passengers on board. The captain was Gordon Vette, the first officer, Authur Dovey and the flight engineer
Flight engineer
Flight engineers work in three types of aircraft: fixed-wing , rotary wing , and space flight .As airplanes became even larger requiring more engines and complex systems to operate, the workload on the two pilots became excessive during certain critical parts of the flight regime, notably takeoffs...
was Gordon Brooks. Vette knew that if they did not try and help, Prochnow would almost certainly die. Vette was a navigator
Navigator
A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation. The navigator's primary responsibility is to be aware of ship or aircraft position at all times. Responsibilities include planning the journey, advising the Captain or aircraft Commander of estimated timing to...
, and at the time of the incident he still held his licence. Furthermore, another passenger, Malcome Fortsyth, was also a navigator; when he heard about the situation he volunteered to help. As the DC-10 did not have an onboard radar, the crew had to came up with creative ways to find the lost Cessna. By this time Prochnow had crossed the international date line and the date was now December 22.
Vette was able to use the setting sun to gain an approximate position of the Cessna. Then contact was established over a VHF radio which had a range of 200 nautical miles. It was hoped the DC-10 would be making a vapour trail to make it more visible. After contacting Auckland it was determined that weather conditions were not suitable for a trail. Brooks knew that by dumping fuel
Fuel dumping
Fuel dumping is a procedure used by aircraft in certain emergency situations before a return to the airport shortly after takeoff, or before landing short of its intended destination to lighten the aircraft's weight.-Aircraft fuel dump:Aircraft have two major types of weight limits: the maximum ...
they could produce a vapour trail. As the search was getting more and more desperate, they decided to try it. Prochnow did not see the trail, and it was starting to get dark. Vette wanted all the passengers to be involved, so he asked them to look out of the windows and invited small groups to come to the cockpit.
As it got darker and darker Prochnow considered ditching, but Vette did not want to give up. The crew of the DC-10 were able to use the exact moment of sunset to get a better fix on Prochnow's position. They also used a technique known as “aural boxing” to try to pinpoint the small plane; this took over an hour to complete. Once it had been done they had a much better approximation of Prochnow's position. The DC-10 used its strobe lights to try to make itself more visible to the Cessna. It took some time, but eventually Prochnow reported seeing light. However, this was not the DC-10, it was an oil rig, and Prochnow went towards it. This was identified as Penrod, which was being towed from New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
to Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
. This gave Prochnow’s exact position. After some confusion about the exact position of the Penrod, it was finally established that the estimates of the crew of the DC-10 were very accurate. Furthermore, Prochnow was probably able to make it to Norfolk Island with his remaining fuel. He touched down on Norfolk Island after being in the air for twenty-three hours and five minutes.
Events following the incident
McDonnell DouglasMcDonnell Douglas
McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturer and defense contractor, producing a number of famous commercial and military aircraft. It formed from a merger of McDonnell Aircraft and Douglas Aircraft in 1967. McDonnell Douglas was based at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport...
awarded the crew a certificate of commendation for “the highest standards of compassion, judgment and airmanship."
Gordon Brooks was killed in the Air New Zealand Flight 901
Air New Zealand Flight 901
Air New Zealand Flight 901 was a scheduled Air New Zealand Antarctic sightseeing flight that operated between 1977 and 1979, from Auckland Airport to Antarctica and return via Christchurch...
disaster. He was the flight engineer.
Vette published a book about the Flight 901
Air New Zealand Flight 901
Air New Zealand Flight 901 was a scheduled Air New Zealand Antarctic sightseeing flight that operated between 1977 and 1979, from Auckland Airport to Antarctica and return via Christchurch...
disaster, called Impact Erebus.
Movie - Mercy Mission, the Rescue of Flight 771
The incident was dramatised in the 1993 made-for-TV movie Mercy Mission; the Rescue of Flight 771. The film starred Scott BakulaScott Bakula
Scott Stewart Bakula is an American actor, known for his role as Sam Beckett in the television series Quantum Leap, for which he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama in 1991 and was nominated for four Emmy Awards. He also had a prominent role as Captain Jonathan...
as Prochnow and Robert Loggia
Robert Loggia
Robert Loggia is an American film and television actor and director.- Early life :Loggia, an Italian American, was born on Staten Island, the son of Elena Blandino, a homemaker, and Benjamin Loggia, a shoemaker, both of whom were born in Sicily, Italy...
as Gordon Vette. Differences between the movie and actual events include:
- In the film, Jay is called Jay Perkins, not Prochnow.
- In the film, Prochnow leaves Pago Pago minutes after his colleague crashes, in reality it was the following morning.
- In the film the Air New Zealand plane is a Boeing 767Boeing 767The Boeing 767 is a mid-size, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It was the manufacturer's first wide-body twinjet and its first airliner with a two-crew glass cockpit. The aircraft features two turbofan engines, a supercritical wing, and a conventional tail...
with the interior of a Boeing 747Boeing 747The Boeing 747 is a wide-body commercial airliner and cargo transport, often referred to by its original nickname, Jumbo Jet, or Queen of the Skies. It is among the world's most recognizable aircraft, and was the first wide-body ever produced...
, while it was actually a DC 10. - The Cessna landed in Norfolk IslandNorfolk IslandNorfolk Island is a small island in the Pacific Ocean located between Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia. The island is part of the Commonwealth of Australia, but it enjoys a large degree of self-governance...
, not AucklandAucklandThe Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
. - There was no approaching storm, and Prochnow did not run out of fuel moments before he landed.
External links
- http://www.navworld.com/navcerebrations/mayday.htm (A detailed explanation of the calculations the crew used to find the Cessna)
- http://www.nzherald.co.nz/honoured-new-zealanders/news/article.cfm?c_id=513&objectid=10443510 (Article on Captain Gordon Vette discussing his role in the investigation of the Erebus crash)