Originally Posted by
AerialPerspective
What an arrogant response... I NEVER said he was incapable of making an error but you have said yourself in your response (where you allude to me being an idiot) "Collins was put into an unfamiliar environment and asked to perform a task (sightseeing) in which he had no experience."... AND WHO PUT HIM THERE WITHOUT ADEQUATE PREPARATION OR EXPERIENCE??? by your logic, throwing someone into a war zone with no training and no weapons knowledge, the person would be responsible for their own death when they inevitably got shot by the enemy???
Like I said, you cannot view it in a vacuum... yes, Air NZ put him in the unfamiliar environment, Air NZ failed to properly prepare the crew, Air NZ tolerated the low flying then claimed they didn't know, Air NZ shredded the documents, Air NZ gave the inconsistent evidence, Air NZ went against the advice of the USAF in operating the flights in the first place. But you suggest it's Collins' fault... or that seems like what you're saying.
Why is that so many of the Mahon disciples seem to have trouble seeing middle ground? There's no one here, that I'm aware of, who is saying Collins was wholely responsible for this accident. Yes, Air New Zealand, ALPA and CAA all made a string of bad judgements that were shoddy at best, negligent at worst but that in itself does not mean that far better couldn't have, and shouldn't have been expected of Collins on the day. Mahon opined that the crew made
no error that contributed to the accident and there are plenty of us that have a major issue with that statement.
The only intelligent debate at this point (and it's actually not one I'm interested in having) is in how much (ie. greater than zero) blame can be attributed to the actions of the crew.
It also strikes me that there are several posters here who have a significant conflict of interest. To this I would just say one thing. There were 256 people apart from Collins who lost their lives that day. The legacy of those people - and those they left behind - deserves truth. And that truth is more important than imparting upon the pilot's family a comforting thought that is not, in fact, real.