[Aviation is more than plane and place, it's also a most remarkable conglomerate of human elements of endeavor...of despair and failure and of triumph and success...sometimes under incredible stress...! Here is a fascinating (RW) story I'd once posted about, a long while ago, and wish to add, here, a 2nd perspective to it, via a simple (and novice) experiment of my own, from our virtual world. As the RW events had unfolded, two lives, that of Air New Zealander (DC-10) Captain Gordon Vette, and that of a retired US Navy pilot, Jay Prochnow assigned to deliver a Cessna 188 AGwagon from the United States to Australia, would be intertwined...two individuals that had never known each other before...but met (actually via radio contact) over the vast and desolate waters of South Pacific Ocean, in a desperate measure to save the life of the latter....as rain and darkness threatened to end it all...(please excuse the dramatization...🙂...but these are facts) ...So, here we go. Hope you enjoy...]

Excerpt from my previous post from more than 2 years ago:

"Jay Prochnow, a retired US Navy pilot, was assigned to deliver a Cessna 188 AGwagon from the United States to Australia. The long trip would be completed in four stages (U.S. (San Francisco) -> Honolulu -> Pago Pago (NSTU) -> Norfolk (YSNF) -> Australia (Sydney)). Jay had also a colleague who was flying another Cessna 188 alongside him. The first two legs were uneventful. On the morning of 20 December 1978, both pilots took off from Pago Pago (American Samoa - see MAP, below), but his colleague crashed his Cessna on takeoff but was unharmed. It was decided that Jay would proceed (alone) with rest of the delivery flight (see the first 3 shots, below), tasked to reach Norfolk Island on his own. It should be pointed out, here, those were the days of (basic) ADF navigation especially on such planes (no GPS/FMC/CDU/iPad etc..., or any other modern navigational devices that would be standard gear these days for such ferry flights). 

When Prochnow arrived at the region where he believed Norfolk Island was, he was unable to see the island. While he continued searching; he realized his Automatic Direction Finder (ADF) had malfunctioned. He alerted (Auckland) ATC and was forced to declare an emergency. Imagine yourself flying for over 14 hours non-stop over the (featureless) Pacific Ocean, seeing nothing but only the blue waters all around you. You try to contact your destination airport but get no answer. You then begin an "expanding square pattern" search technique hoping to find Norfolk Island. It finally dawns on you that you are lost in the middle of nowhere, on the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean, in a little (crop-duster) Cessna...as precious fuel is burning out, and nightfall is imminent...Meanwhile, on the same day, Air New Zealand Flight 103, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30, had taken off from Fiji's Nadi International Airport (NFFN), headed for Auckland (NZAA), see MAP, on a two-hour flight. The flight had 88 passengers on board, and a crew of 3, including Captain Gordon Vette, in command..."

So, there was only one aircraft in the vicinity of the Lost Cessna, this Air New Zealand (DC-10) Flight 103, and contact was established between both aircraft on long-range HF radio...

The RW events had inspired a Movie called "Mercy Mission: the Rescue of Flight 771", in case you've not had a chance to see it yet, a heartwarming rendition of the RW events, with superb acting by Scott Bakula and Robert Loggia. Anyway, I was reminded of this Story, today, when, I came across a New Zealand DC-10-30 livery (a nice repaint with a metallic underbelly, see shots below). I had mentioned once that I'd recently re-acquired the JF/CLS DC-10, though I'd owned that SIM many years ago (and then somehow had lost it). I also have JF's (excellent) livery pack of 20 more airlines, which, however, doesn't include Air New Zealand. Air New Zealand is no stranger to DC-10, having operated 8 of those a/c, between (1973-1982), one of which (ZK-NZP) was lost in the tragic Mount Erebus disaster (Flight 901). In an ironic twist, I noticed that the (ANZ) DC-10-30, the repainter has created, that you see below, in my pictures, illustrated for this story, has exact same Reg. (ZK-NZP) as the one that was destroyed atop Mt. Erebus in the accident in Antarctica. Captain Gordon Vette who flew the Mercy Mission (Flight 103) of this story, in 1978, with DC-10-30 (actual Reg. ZK-NZS), just a year later, in November of 1979, in Flight 901, would lose his Flight Engineer, Gordon Brooks, of this Flight 103.

He would later make significant contributions to the investigation and research of Flight 901 and to the future safety of Antarctic flights, sometimes been credited as The Man Who Solved the Mystery of Flight 901. At the time of Flight 103, Vette had already 55 years as a commercial pilot, and was an Air New Zealand veteran with over 33 years of experience, approaching retirement. With ANZ, he had been a check pilot and captain for the Lockheed L-188 Electra, Douglas DC-3, the Douglas DC-8, and the McDonnell Douglas DC-10, as well as a flight instructor for the DC-10. Jay Prochnow could not have asked for anyone more qualified under these dire and fortuitous circumstances to come to his rescue...but the rescue effort was ridden with challenges. This DC-10 was not equipped for Search and Rescue (SAR) operation. It only had conventional INS for navigation (which I've made use of, for part of my flight, see shots). Nonetheless, Gordon Vette and his crew, using back-of-the-envelope calculations, combined with masterful recourse to a well-known (search) technique called "Aural Boxing" (please see my Part II, for explanation and pictures), on their DC-10, could zero in into the location of the little (Cessna) AGwagon and its single occupant...

Hope you enjoy the set of pictures below, and please see my Part II, as the Story continues there...!

Fine set of one from my favorite Airplane 👍

cheers 😉

Fascinating story Sir . 

Very nice shots! 😉 

What a thrilling story and fantastic shots!

Folks: Appreciated the comments...!!