Originally Posted by
megan
Aircraft were known to fly up the sound at 2,000/1,500, having descended to that altitude via an enroute descent. The excuse is given that they were in severe clear VMC, the argument then becomes what defines VMC. There is no evidence that Captain Collins was in anything other than VMC up to the point of impact, to say otherwise is not to understand whiteout.
Disagree. Firstly - no other pilot descended below 2000'. If Collins (who was not VMC at 2000' - what other reason was there to descend further) had climbed out at 2000' rather than descending further to 1500', the accident might have been averted. Secondly, there is no argument "what defines VMC" - the definition is quite clear. 5km visibilty with 2km separation from cloud. It is literally impossible to imagine that these conditions were maintained as Collins orbited from 16000' to 1500' given the weather conditions at the time - and, as I have already said is also evidenced by the fact he said "we might have to pop down to 1500 here" when he was at 2000'. Thirdly - if by "whiteout" you mean the whole "false horizon" hypothesis - that too is just a theory. We'll never know exactly what the crew saw - or thought they saw - in the final moments of flight. But backing up that particular truck for a moment - every pilot including Collins knows (he said as much himself) that if sandwiched between cloud and ice, it is difficult to tell one from the other.
Yet down he went.