SeekingAnswers,
To balance your assertion that "the pilots had little chance of coming out unscathed from the attack that was led against them", I would like to post the following views taken from " New Zealand Tragedies, Aviation" by John King.
Bob Thomson was with DSIR Antarctic Division.
"But Thomson had more experience in the Area than almost anybody else. During his 75 trips to Antarctica in the course of a long career with the DSIR Antarctic Division, at least 50 had been on the flight deck of aircraft approaching from the North, observing the ice edge and conditions. He was the commentator on Air New Zealand's inaugaral flight back in February 1977, with Captain Ian Gemmel in command, and also on the last completed trip before the flight 901 on 28 November.
In fact, he was originally scheduled to fly on the fatal flight, but had to change his plans be cause of an expected visit to Scott Base by Prime M inister Rob Muldoon in early December 1979. Instead, mountaineer Peter Mulgrew took his place-and was on the flight deck of ZK-NZP at the moment of impact.
Has Bob Thomson ever felt uneasy that, but for a twist of fate, he might have died that day?. "Not at all. I always insisted on a complete circuit of Ross Island before letting down below 17,000ft. That way I could get an idea of the complete situation and what the weather was like, where any clouds were".
" The captain didn't give attention to problems that he might have around there. These people were taking a Sunday drive. When I heard the transcript of the CVR I fell out of my chair. Most of the times Mulgrew had been there he'd gone in by sea, and all his travel from Scott Base was to the South. Hardly anybody ever went into Lewis Bay."
" Had they orbited Ross Island they would have seen the cloud. If a pilot is unsure he always goes up, never down. The co-pilot on Flight 901 never opened his flight bag to look up the co-ordinates. I always had a chart in the cockpit and checked the Lat and Long readout, but the crew of the fatal flight never referred to it."
Procedures for aircrews of military aircraft flying to Antarctica and landing at Williams Field have always been strictly observed. Full training in whiteout and other weather phenomena is provided, and no pilot is ever in command of a flight until he has already been a part of a flight crew and is thoroughly familiar with the area.
"Nor did Air New Zealand take advantage of the experience gained by members of their aircrews who flew on earlier flights. Apparently the NZALPA saw the Antarctic flights as a "Special perk" for their members and had an agreement with ANZ that flight crews should be spread widely amongst its members.
Therefore aircrews, including aircraft Captains, usually had not any previous experience on these flights, an experience which would have avoided the Erebus Disaster from ever happening."
This from a man, whilst not aircrew, had more experience of Antarctic operations than most, to my mind would put fault on both the Company and the aircrew, and any attack was not only against the crew.
Prospector