The only question remaining is why they did not turn away. We shall never know
Quite, JP.
Hardly no doubt whatsoever why the crash occurred then, is it?
"yetti" makes the point that one always has an IFR option in mind when planning a sortie
Not much point when a climb to SALT is not allowed by the aircraft's woeful lack of an icing clearance!
They also ignored the rules on crew meals (when they took off on the fatal sortie NO crew member had eaten a proper meal for at least 10 hours).
K52, you have never been in SH have you? (nor in the low cost airline world, but that's another subject). Meals are taken when and if. NI was (and still is) an operational environment, and the job always came first. Food taken on the run is still food. Whatever you call a 'proper meal' was not always available.
We can all come to conclusions various over this, and some of us may be right. JP, K52, that includes you. The point is that those theories must stand the burdon of proof. Clearly they never will, so the finding is not valid.