I presume the requirement for Cat A departure would depend on whether this was classed as a CAT or a private flight.
The problems is those wires and, since he hit them, the obstacle environment didn't allow for a CAT A profile - if that is what he flew and if he did so correctly.
Precisely. Whether it was CAT or not, a Cat A profile would have provided a 35 foot clearance. Also, the site should have been pre-recce'd. If it was, and the pilot knew about the wires, why did the flight end in that tragic way?
SAS, we all know that you are the only one allowed smart-assed answers here under your rules and that you never provide an answer but only ask leading questions.
However, are you saying that if a CAT A departure wasn't required by law then in your day you wouldn't have bothered doing one? I would hope not.
I suspect, looking at the aircraft type in the photos (an early model), it wasn't actually capable of a CAT A departure and could only fly a shallow climb profile. All the more reason why the pilot should have been very much aware of the wires and either used a different departure path or a different site altogether.
As is often so, this was a case of the holes in the Swiss cheese eventually lining up.