Erebus 25 years on

[Dick Smith]

I initiated the Antarctic flights and went on the 9 Qantas ones I chartered.

I was always on the flight deck when at low level and personally marked the lat and longitude from the INS on the ONC chart. In those days the aircraft operated at low levels - as low as 500 agl over the pack ice.

One of the flights was on the 17 TH Nov 1977 and was an attempt to get to the South Geographic pole but adverse winds meant a change and we overflew McMurdo at low level. Descent was in IMC using guidance from the McMurdo radar operator . I marked all the positions on the chart so there was a backup.

It's clear that no one in the accident aircraft marked positions on a visual chart as a safety backup.