The aircraft operating Air New Zealand flight TE901 on 28 November 1979 was an intercontinental DC10-30 (ZK-NZP) brought into service by Air New Zealand in December 1974. At the time of the accident, it was just under 5 years old and had accumulated 20,763 hours of flight time.
© 1979 Air New Zealand Archives
ZK-NZP was the 182nd off the assembly line in Long Beach, California and was the fourth of eight DC10-30’s delivered to Air New Zealand.
Air New Zealand decided to order only the intercontinental series 30 DC-10s, which provided additional benefits to the airline, such as:
- Longer range
- Cheaper landing fees (the rear centre gear was retractable)
- Lower operating costs (than a four-engined aircraft)
- Ability to carry more freight.
ZK-NZP was the first of Air New Zealand’s DC-10s to be powered by three General Electric CF6-50C engines, each capable of producing 51,000 pounds of thrust. The first three DC-10s delivered to Air New Zealand had the GE CF6-50A engines, but they were all later fitted with the newer GE CF6-50C. The first delivery of a DC-10 to Air New Zealand was made in early 1973.
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Tail Number
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Serial Number
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Date of
Manufacture
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Engine Model
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Date Received by ANZ
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ZK-NZL
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47846-69
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26/10/1972
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3 GE CF6-50C2
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11/01/1973
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ZK-NZM
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47847-116
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13/07/1973
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3 GE CF6-50C2
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14/09/1973
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ZK-NZN
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47848-136
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18/01/1974
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3 GE CF6-50C2
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22/01/1974
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ZK-NZP
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46910-182
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08/11/1974
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3 GE CF6-50C2
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12/12/1974
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ZK-NZQ
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46911-189
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08/01/1975
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3 GE CF6-50C2
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20/02/1975
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ZK-NZR
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47849-213
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22/08/1975
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3 GE CF6-50C2
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02/10/1975
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ZK-NZS
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46954-227
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29/04/1975
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3 GE CF6-50C2
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07/06/1976
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ZK-NZT
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46950-242
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22/07/1977
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3 GE CF6-50C2
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10/11/1977
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A list of the Air New Zealand fleet of DC10's. Information sourced from http://www.taxiways.net/dc-10.
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