Brian Rudman: History's balance doesn't need MPs

If history is to be rewritten, the job is best left to historians, not politicians. Progressive leader Jim Anderton's backing for " some public acknowledgment" from the Government that the pilots of the DC10 that smashed into Mt Erebus 25 years ago were not to blame can only end in tears. And in bad history.

It's reminiscent of the ill-fated attempt of Vietnam War veterans in 2001 to get a belated welcome home parade up Queen St for themselves, 26 years after the last defeated American troops - our allies - fled Saigon.

Mayor Christine Fletcher said the welcome-home parade would be "a rare opportunity to revisit this part of our country's history, to set the record straight and record our appreciation of these men and women and their families".

At the time I suggested it was a scab best left unpicked, that the record was perfectly straight, without any need to rewrite it, and that a parade would only reopen once-deep divisions within society.

Common sense prevailed, and the march was quietly abandoned.

There were no protest marches after Erebus, but the death of 257 passengers and crew left a nation desperate for answers.

First came the report by chief air accidents inspector Ron Chippindale, pointing the finger at the pilots for flying too low towards an area of poor definition.

Then came a royal commission, and Justice Peter Mahon blaming Air New Zealand for not telling the pilots of a late change to onboard computer navigation co-ordinates.

The debate has waxed and waned ever since. No doubt the answer lies somewhere in between.

Unfortunately, Mr Anderton is backing the call from one of pilot Captain Jim Collins' daughters for a clear apology from the Government or Air New Zealand for the stain left on the crew's reputation by the airline's earlier attempts to blame the crash on pilot error.

But requesting an official apology is asking the Government to exonerate the crew from any blame, and that, to me, is rewriting history yet again.

The cockpit transcript of the last few minutes of the flight indicates these guys had no idea where they were as they flew straight into the foothills of Mt Erebus.

Everyone in the cockpit seemed to be throwing in their penny's worth. It was like the country cousins up from Ekatahuna, mum with map book on her knee, lost on Spaghetti Junction.

Cruising along at 480km/h in a whiteout looking for a volcano, the prudent thing would surely have been to ensure you were higher than the object you were seeking.

 

In 1986, I was in the cockpit of a tourist flight, taking part in a similar sort of debate about whether to turn right or left. I had scored the cruisiest freebie ever, a seat on a British Airways Concorde charter from London chasing the fabled Halley's Comet across the southern night sky.

High above the southern Indian Ocean, I'd joined the flight crew and celebrity astronomer Heather Couper in a cockpit debate about where to go next.

The captain said right, Ms Couper said left. Outside was a fairy tale array of stars of various sizes and colours and brightness, anyone of which could have been the elusive comet.

True Brits, they compromised and headed straight ahead at twice the speed of sound.

I returned to the cabin and snapped a photo of all the rich bottoms sticking up in the air as the fare-payers peered out the tiny windows seeking their money's worth.

The photograph was a mistake. The flash, they claimed, ruined their night vision. As Couper advised over the intercom to check out two fuzzy blobs at two o'clock, I retreated into a Moet bottle.

Lost at twice the speed of sound we might have been, but at 19 kilometres high, there was never any risk of running into anything unexpected, Except a passing satellite. Which wasn't the case in Antarctica, 25 years ago.

But the last thing we need is another round of recrimination and debate, which is what will happen if Parliament revisits the matter of blame.

A generation on, it's time to leave history to the historians and move on.