New Zealand National Airways Corporation Flight 441
On 3 July 1963 at approximately 9:09 am NZST, the flight, a Douglas DC-3 Skyliner, flew into a vertical rock face in the Kaimai Ranges near Mount Ngatamahinerua, at an altitude of 2460 feet (750 m).Twenty-two were killed instantly; there is evidence that one person survived the impact but died shortly afterward.However, it must be appreciated that the crew decided to descend only to the level officially designated as the minimum safe altitude in the area of the descent.Following this accident, the Civil Aviation Authority made the decision to classify the Kaimai Ranges as mountainous terrain, which raised the minimum safe altitude for the area by 1000 feet (305 m).[3] In July 2023, the recovered wreckage was included in a display at Classic Flyers Museum near Tauranga Airport, commemorating the 60th anniversary of the crash.
Controlled flight into terrainKaimai RangesNew ZealandDouglas DC-3C (C-47B-15-DK)HastingsNational Airways CorporationRegistrationAuckland Whenuapai AirportTauranga AirportNew Zealand National Airways CorporationWhenuapaiTaurangaDouglas DC-3 SkylinerCivil Aviation AuthoritydowndraftturbulenceNew Zealand ArmyAir New Zealand Flight 901Mount ErebusAntarcticaAviation accidents and incidentsElephant Mountain B-52 crashAnkara mid-air collisionNorthwest Orient Airlines Flight 705Philippine Air Lines Flight 984Aeroflot Flight 191Camden PA-24 crashAeroflot Flight 25Serviços Aéreos Cruzeiro do Sul Flight 144Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 293Mohawk Airlines Flight 112Aeroflot Flight 012United Arab Airlines Flight 869Air Inter Flight 2611Aeroflot Flight 366Aeroflot Flight 663Swissair Flight 306BAC One-Eleven test crashAero Flight 217Poonch IAF helicopter crashTrans-Canada Air Lines Flight 831Pan Am Flight 214Air New ZealandAir NelsonAnsett Transport IndustriesEagle AirwaysFiji AirwaysMount Cook AirlineVirgin Australia HoldingsATR 72-600Airbus A320-200Airbus A320neoAirbus A321neoBoeing 777-300ERBoeing 787-9Bombardier Q300Auckland AirportChristchurch AirportWellington AirportL-188 crashDC-8 crashFlight 103Flight 4374Flight 901Flight 24Flight 2279Flight 888TDestinationsMoncrieff and Hood disappearanceLiberator crash at WhenuapaiAir New Zealand DC-8 crashAir New Zealand Flight 4374Auckland mid-air collisionAnsett New Zealand Flight 703Airwork Flight 23Eagle Airways Flight 2279Fox Glacier FU-24 crashCarterton hot air balloon crashTimona Park plane crashFox Glacier helicopter crashLATAM Airlines Flight 800associated state or dependent territory