Megan.
Splitting hairs, the weather conditions at McMurdo were well below that required for descent on this particular day. When a very experienced Antarctic weather observer advises that the conditions at McMurdo are no good for a scenic flight, and are well below those required for a VMC descent and the captain decides, on his own, without any conferring with any other crew member as to his self designed descent procedure, disregarding all the safeguards that had been built into the requirements for these flights to proceed to Antarctica, and never having been down to the ice previously, is flying a DC10 at 260+ knots, at slightly below 1,500ft and not knowing his exact position, is blameless???, Then I believe the Chippindale report on the accident, where he did not apportion blame, which is not the requirement of an accident report, it is to find the cause, states that the "probable cause" is a far more balanced report, taking in facts that he was perfectly aware of being an experienced airman himself, is a far more credible report. Who were Justice Mahon's technical advisers? the question of radar returns is a good example of lack of knowledge.
It has also been reported that the Minister of Transport at the time has stated, with hindsight, that it was a mistake to only appoint one commissioner, should have been more.
Last edited by prospector; 8th Dec 2019 at 03:07.
Reason: Addition