Pero positive Erebus flight still possible

BY MARC GREENHILL

A flight taking six Erebus victims' family members to Antarctica for a memorial ceremony is due to arrive on the frozen continent at 3pm this afternoon.

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The family members, including Pip Collins, daughter of the doomed plane's pilot Jim Collins, had been chosen by a ballot.

Also on the flight was Air New Zealand's chief pilot Dave Morgan and a cameraman to record the event for those that could not make it.

Passengers had boarded the aircraft, a US air force C-17 Globemaster, at 8am this morning in Christchurch.

They will be transported from the airfield to Scott Base where they will receive a briefing on how to survive on the ice before heading to the crash site at around 6pm.

They will spend around two hours there, provided the weather is hospitable, Radio New Zealand reported. 

Air New Zealand's group general manager, international airline, Ed Sims said today's trip had taken 18 months to plan and prepare for.

Meanwhile, Christchurch entrepreneur Mike Pero is refusing to give up hope of flying more than 300 people to the site of the Mt Erebus disaster in Antarctica despite Qantas saying it cannot provide a plane.

Pero had an agreement with Antarctica Sightseeing Flights to charter a Boeing 747 for 307 people in January.

Tomorrow is the 30th anniversary of an Air New Zealand DC10 crash at Mt Erebus which killed all 257 passengers and crew on board.

However, Australian airline Qantas, which was to have supplied the aircraft, advised Antarctica Sightseeing Flights yesterday that the arrangement was off.

"[Qantas] advised during this peak season that they don't have an aircraft available," Antarctica Sightseeing Flights spokesman Tony Harrington said.

"At this stage, it won't go ahead."

A flight before the end of the peak viewing period in February was unlikely, he said.

Pero blamed the cancellation on the furore in New Zealand after Air New Zealand said on Wednesday his plans were "deeply disrespectful".

"Qantas didn't have an issue, but now they're probably thinking it's turned into a can of worms over here in New Zealand," he said.

"This controversy has not helped one bit. We may have lost the opportunity, which was my biggest fear."

Pero was not giving up on the charter flight. "I don't believe at this stage that all possibilities are off. At the end of the day, if people want to go and there's a planeload of people, in particular the families [of Erebus victims], I don't believe it's over yet."

He had initially seemed disillusioned, telling Radio New Zealand "I don't want to do this any more." But he later told TV1's Close-Up he thought a flight could still be organised before February, after which weather conditions would rule it out.

"To be honest, I think it could still be resolved. I think it would be good if someone from the Government stepped in and said let's resolve this. Air NZ should be involved in it.

"I'm happy to work with them, it is all still do-able but we have until February 16 to get an aircraft down there."

Mr Pero said he was hurt by accusations he was trying to cash in on the grief of victims' relatives.

"People who know me well know better than that. I'm astounded." He said he was trying to help out relatives who wanted to go to the region and was not in it for the money.

"I have nothing to gain out of this, there is absolutely no margin, profit or anything in it for me."

Air NZ chief executive Rob Fyfe said he was personally upset by Mr Pero's sudden plans. "I have been dealing up to 40 to 50 emails a day for the last couple of months with families and I've tried to build a relationship of trust and do the very best we can for the families," he told Campbell Live.

"I've talked to family members and they were deeply disturbed...that someone was preying on their grief and I felt personally quite hurt by that and I guess I reacted in a way that reflected the feelings of the families that were being expressed.

"No wants controversy. There has been controversy around this issue for 30 years and I was trying to get through the weekend without more controversy and I just feel really disappointed that the families yet again are being dragged into something not of their making."

Air NZ international airline group general manager Ed Sims said more than 40 families had written to the airline expressing concern over the timing of the charter.

TALKS WITH PERO

Mr Sims defended Air New Zealand's response to Mike Pero's plan to charter a plane for people wishing to get to the crash site saying the time line was inappropriate.

"In the buildup to the event, we did not feel families needed another distraction," he told Radio New Zealand.

Air New Zealand would continue talks with Mr Pero and others about plans for a possible future flight, he said.

The plan was to get as many families as possible as close to the crash site as possible.

It was "absolutely critical" to give families a sense of closure, he said.

The airline did not feel that a sightseeing tour would be enough to satisfy families but "if that's what people want and they're comfortable paying the prices that were discussed yesterday we would have no [issue] whatsoever".

One of the six relatives travelling to the crash site today, Eric Houghton, said it was a "cynical time" for Pero to promote the flight.

He was nine when he lost his father, John, in the disaster.

"This is an important time and we don't need sideshows to distract from it," Houghton said.

Pero questioned whether the Erebus victims would want Antarctica to be off-limits.

"They went down there to experience the beauty and because it was a unique opportunity. Would they like to think that now Kiwis can't ever experience Antarctica?"

The charter flight could be likened to tours of battlefields like Gallipoli, he said. "That was a catastrophic loss for New Zealand through and through. Thousands of Kiwis go back to visit the site of their lost relatives; what's the difference?"

Prime Minister John Key said yesterday that the Government would consider helping Erebus families go to Antarctica.

"I personally would like to see more of them have that opportunity, probably something that's a little bit better, actually, than just simply a flyover," Key said.

- with NZPA and STUFF.CO.NZ

- © Fairfax NZ News