Originally Posted by
megan
What might you suggest was a "better" way, keep in mind they were not supposed to be at 200'?
One that didn’t involve using an object of undefined height as a turning WYPT, descending behind it, down to 200ft, then flying at it with a 40kt tailwind at night in 2-3km visibility in rain with an incorrectly set-up WX radar.
The FMS could have been used to set up any number of interceptions for a downwind leg or base leg; cross-checking on the WX radar that the sector is free. The bay was otherwise almost entirely free of obstacles so why on earth did they fly out to the island anyway, as there were other POS RNAV WYPTS that could have been used to join the route? And why did nobody ask “how high is Black Rock?” And look at the chart to check. Even with the incorrect information on the chart, 200ft was always going to lead to a collision with the plan to fly over at that height..
From the moment the rear crewman called the object and suggested coming right (2nd call), they had about 12 seconds to impact. But the crew remained in a SA fog until the very last seconds.