Hi there,
It's all well and good talking about upgrading services, GPS and the like, and how hard it can be flying to NDBs or no aids at all, in the dark, in Scotland etc, etc. The fact is that MAC is a well established 'discreet' Loganair VOR/DME procedure that heads out over the sea with with a normal inbound turn and descent to a standard MDA of 430 feet or so into an immediate VOR assisted go-around if nothing is seen at MDA. No level off and de-stabilisation etc. The aeroplane was crewed with a very experienced and highly capable pilot, a great paramedic (I flew with them both on many occasions when I worked for Loganair) and a sturdy three axis autopilot....hence the dispensation to fly single crew ops.
We are not, in this particular case talking about inaccurate night NDB approaches on islands like Islay, or scrabbling around in the dark low-level looking for lights. In the last few years great efforts have been made to bring the BN2 SOPs and training to a very high standard, mirroring the other fleets high quality training at Loganair, and the crew were both professionals. The whole issue of using paramedics to assist as an extra set of eyes when the weather is bad is not dangerous. That's called CRM. And the modern training is working harder to develop that relationship. You think the helicopter paramedics aren't looking out of the window and talking to the crew when they're trying to let down in the crap weather?
There seems to be this yesteryear opinion that the job, single pilot, is 'dangerous', but within the bounds of the training and the SOPs, even the night work to Barra is fairly straight forward. Something obviously went tragically wrong, and lets hope the AAIB can shed some light on that, for everyone's sake, so that if nothing else, the guys who still have to go out day and night and do this job can learn from it.
The guys will be missed very much and my sympathies go out to their families and everyone at Loganair.
ACA
Edited for Nil further: Yes it is, into light icing conditions. Loganair aircraft fitted with full wing, stab and fin boots, hot prop mats and a hot windscreen panel.