On November 28, 1979, an Air New Zealand airliner took off from Auckland Airport on a sightseeing trip to Antarctica. There were 257 people on board. Hours later everyone was dead.

Somehow, the plane had flown directly into the Erebus volcano. This was a disaster that shattered a country’s psyche.

In White Silence, Michael Wright and Katy Gosset explore why New Zealand’s deadliest disaster was also its most controversial; why a nation was incapable of moving on; and why it was captured by one famous phrase: ‘an orchestrated litany of lies’.
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White Silence - Trailer

On November 28, 1979, an Air New Zealand jet took off from Auckland Airport on a sightseeing trip to Antarctica. There were 257 people on board. Hours later everyone was dead. Somehow, the plane had flown directly into the Erebus volcano. This was a disaster that shattered a country’s psyche. In the decades since, grief gave way to blame, anger and recrimination. Who was responsible for so many deaths? Was there a cover-up? How could a plane just fly into a mountain? To mark the 40th anniversary of the disaster, Michael Wright and Katy Gosset explore why New Zealand’s deadliest disaster was also its most controversial; why a nation was incapable of moving on; and how it was captured by one famous phrase: ‘an orchestrated litany of lies’. White Silence will be released daily from November 8, 2019.

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Listen to the first episode of Stuff’s major new podcast, The Commune, a 12-part investigation into the notorious free-love commune, Centrepoint. There are crimes. But this isn’t a whodunnit. It’s a whydunnit. Subscribe at www.stuff.co.nz/thecommune
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Introducing The Commune: Sex, drugs – and a guru called Bert

Listen to the first episode of Stuff's major new podcast, The Commune, a 12-part investigation into the notorious free-love commune, Centrepoint. There are crimes. But this isn't a whodunnit. It's a whydunnit. Subscribe at www.stuff.co.nz/thecommune

Introducing The Commune: Sex, drugs - and a guru called Bert

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks to White Silence about her decision to say sorry to the families of the Erebus victims: "It all built a picture for me of unfinished business, and that wasn't right."

Episode Eight - The Apology

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks to White Silence about her decision to say sorry to the families of the Erebus victims: “It all built a picture for me of unfinished business, and that wasn't right.”
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A special bonus episode of White Silence for November 28 - the anniversary of the Erebus disaster. Bringing together stories from listeners like Air NZ staff who had to work through the tragedy, a teenager's 40-year trauma finally brought to a close and an unlikely golf tournament played in the shadow of Erebus.

White Silence - Trailer

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