Erebus tapes locked away for good

New Zealanders may never know what the flight crew really said in the moments before the Mt Erebus crash.

This week, Transport Accident Investigation Commission chief executive John Britton said modern audio and filtering equipment could produce a clearer playback of tapes reported to be missing.

But yesterday Archives New Zealand confirmed that it holds two copies of the cockpit voice recording from flight TE901, which crashed on Mt Erebus 25 years ago.

Only written transcripts of the tapes - and at least three versions exist - have ever been made available to the public.

The version that appears in Chief Air Accident Inspector Ron Chippindale's 1980 report on the crash, blaming the pilots, includes controversial phrases such as "bit thick here, eh Bert?"

Retired pilot Arthur Cooper, who helped transcribe another version days after the crash, has argued that the "Bert" phrase was never uttered.

He has also said that version - known as the Washington transcript - supported Justice Peter Mahon's 1981 royal commission finding that a navigation computer mistake caused the crash.

The Transport Accident Investigation Commission transferred the tapes to Archives New Zealand in Wellington in 1997, along with other records presented to the Court of Appeal hearing on the findings of the royal commission of inquiry into the crash.

Under the terms of transfer, access to the tapes is controlled by the accident investigation commission. Commission chief Mr Britton said the tapes could never be released because of an international agreement.

 

Another spokesman from the commission said the law prevented anyone other than those carrying out investigations from listening to the tapes.

Other information from investigations into the tragedy was restricted for 70 years after the crash - until 2049.

Several versions of the transcripts of the tapes are held at the archives within the records of the royal commission of inquiry.

They include the handwritten Washington transcript, a British version and the Chippindale report which includes a typed transcript.

Archives New Zealand also holds the documents, photographs and maps created in the aftermath of the crash by government departments, including the Police, and Coroner's Court as well as the evidence presented to the commission.

Paul Davison QC, who acted for pilot Jim Collins' family during the commission of inquiry, said the tape had never been played publicly as far as he was aware.

 

"The tape was listened to closely at the time of the Mahon royal commission and it had been closely reviewed by a group of experts, including people who were part of the Airline Pilots Association and knew the voices of the crew."

Mr Davison felt as much information as possible was gained from the tape at the time.