On the morning of 28th November 1979, Air New Zealand flight 901 left Auckland airport for a one-day scenic flight to Antarctica. Scenic flights to Antarctica were in their infancy. On board were 237 passengers and 20 crew. Sir Edmund Hillary was scheduled to act as the guide but had to cancel owing to another commitment. The pilot and co-pilot had never flown to Antarctica before but were experienced pilots considered qualified for the flight. The schedule involved a low-flying circuit of the beautiful McMurdo Sound. A slight correction had been made to the coordinates of the flight path the previous evening, but there was a failure to inform the crew of the update.

As a result, they flew a course that took them 43 kilometres east of the intended destination. The black box recorder revealed the crew was mistakenly identifying landmarks that they expected to see. The plane was flying in a sector whiteout, meaning that no contrast between ground and sky was visible to the pilots. By the time the warning system activated and sounding the alarm pulled up, it was too late. The DC-10 slammed into Mount Erebus, a 4000-metre volcano, killing all on board. The crash remains New Zealand’s deadliest disaster.

The deviation in the 901 flight path was a tiny margin of error. Even the most experienced pilots can get off course, so aviation uses the one-in-sixty rule to assist pilots in getting back on track. Every 60 miles flown, one degree off course results in a one-mile deviation. If pilots find themselves two miles off course after flying 60 miles, they know that they need to adjust their coordinates by two degrees. Failure to do so can lead to disastrous consequences. The best pilots are those who have the humility to admit that good as they might be. They aren’t perfect and hence need to constantly check and re-check that they are still on track.

Do we have the humility to admit that we are prone to wandering off course in various areas in our lives? It’s tempting to think that a one-degree drift is no big deal, but left uncorrected, you’ll soon find yourself a long way from your intended destination. Leave it long enough, and you might find it’s too late to recover the ground. 

Keeping your life running smoothly requires regular review and course correction. Do you have the balance right? Are you looking after yourself, your relationships, and your responsibilities in a way that honours each of these? Do you have a flight plan with a clear destination in mind? Are you on track with where you want to head and the person you want to be? It’s all too easy to run on autopilot, failing to recognise a drift. Feedback from others is one way to check our coordinates. Flying solo can be hazardous so consider someone who has permission to speak the truth into your life. Next week we’ll look more into navigating the journey.

Linda Gray
 linda@relationshipsanctuary.com.au
 0401 517 243