Air New Zealand computer used to sanitise on line Erebus Wikipedai article
A report in The Press in New Zealand says that an Air New Zealand computer was used to sanitise an online Wikipedia article to make the airline look less culpable for its part in New Zealand’s worst peacetime disaster.
An article about the 1979 Erebus crash on Wikipedia, an internet encyclopaedia able to be edited by users, was altered to state “pilots are divided to this day as to whether the responsibility … should rest with the pilot or the flight planning department” over the deaths of 257 passengers and crew.
The alteration, which has since been deleted, was identified this month as coming from a computer using the Air New Zealand server.
An Air New Zealand spokeswoman said the company was investigating the allegation. But Cabinet minister Jim Anderton said that, if true, the change was “outrageous (and) entirely erroneous”.
It was a case of the airline – now 80 per cent owned by the Government – trying to rewrite history to make itself look better.
The airline’s computers were implicated through a programme devised by self-described American “destructive technologist” Virgil Griffith to identify the computer systems used by those who made alterations to Wikipedia.
Computer experts contacted by The Press also tracked the altered entry back to Air New Zealand’s computer server.
Anderton has previously called on the Government to make a formal declaration that Captain Jim Collins and co-pilot Greg Cassin were not to blame for the crash.
He said yesterday that to suggest there was disagreement over blame for the Erebus crash was unjustifiable and wrong.
Maria Collins, the widow of Jim Collins, said yesterday that it was of little importance what Wikipedia said about the crash.
“Whether Wikpedia says one thing or another and who wrote it or authorised it – so much has been written that is incorrect that I have stopped jumping up and down,” she said.
The Wikipedia alteration left unchanged the findings by Justice Peter Mahon’s Royal Commission that Air New Zealand executives had been behind an “orchestrated litany of lies” to cover up the cause of the accident, including disposing evidence and engaging in subterfuge.
It also made no change to the assertion that Mahon’s findings remained, even though the Privy Council overturned the result because he had exceeded his powers and denied the airline a fair hearing.
Anderton said the alteration suggested that Air New Zealand remained sensitive to allegations of blame for the Erebus crash.
He said pilots’ associations in New Zealand and internationally had endorsed Mahon’s findings and the only dissent by pilots over the fault was from those who had a “vested interest” in upholding the original accident report overturned by the Royal Commission.
New Zealand Airline Pilots Association president Mark Rammell said there was no division among pilots.
“Justice Mahon’s finding, that was the official finding of the Royal Commission and that was accepted in Parliament,” Rammell said.
“Our pilots are completely happy with that finding, that it was not pilot error.”
Report by The Mole
John Alwyn-Jones
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
Phocuswright reveals the world's largest travel markets in volume in 2025
Cyclone in Sri Lanka had limited effect on tourism in contrary to media reports
Higher departure tax and visa cost, e-arrival card: Japan unleashes the fiscal weapon against tourists
Singapore to forbid entry to undesirable travelers with new no-boarding directive
In Italy, the Meloni government congratulates itself for its tourism achievements