David Livingstone has spent 30 years delving into the causes of the Erebus disaster. Photo / Greg Bowker

David Livingstone has spent 30 years delving into the causes of the Erebus disaster. Photo / Greg Bowker

When David Livingstone first read news reports that the 1979 Air New Zealand Flight TE901 had been programmed to fly on a collision course with Mt Erebus in Antarctica, he was angry and a little unnerved.

"There were rumblings that the aircraft track had been altered and that such error had persisted for 14 months." That meant his flight, taken a year earlier, must also have been heading for disaster.

"I thought it was only due to good weather, and thus deviation from the programmed track, that our flight - and others - didn't suffer the same fate. There, but for the grace of God, go I."

The more he thought about it, the more it disturbed him. "How dare they have endangered us all with recklessness over such a long time? I immediately suspected cover-up and was determined to get to the bottom of that."

He quickly found his life hadn't been endangered - that it was only the flight of November 28, 1979 that had been on a collision course.

It was just the start of a quest, some would say obsession, that has occupied quite a bit of Livingstone's spare time since. A quest that has seen him read and re-read all the official reports, discuss the topic with interested parties often, and even write a letter (unpublished) to the editor of this newspaper.

In the early 1980s he remembers reading Justice Peter Mahon's Royal Commission report during an Air New Zealand flight to Sydney - much to the chagrin of the hostesses. "I was fairly flagrant in having it on the seat beside me. I can't remember whether I actually got comment or not, but I got an attitude."

Each year, especially on the anniversary of the disaster, Livingstone revisits memories of his own flight and wonders when the controversy will end.

He doesn't think he's alone in regarding Air New Zealand's chief executive Rob Fyfe's recent apology as a "Clayton's apology". Livingstone believes Air New Zealand needs to acknowledge the fact that the airliner was put on the wrong course and that a cover-up did take place.

He speaks fondly of his own scenic flight to the frozen continent. "It remains the best day trip I've ever had. It was pretty much party all day - starting with a Champagne breakfast. The drinks were free and not only did the plane need a top-up at Christchurch, so did the bar. We drank the plane dry."

The time was 1978, the cost was $299. The back page of the in-flight magazine had an ad for Rothmans - the cigarette packet next to a pilot's hands in control of a DC10, read "... on more than 100 airlines, Rothmans is enjoyed for its true King Size flavour".