jayteeto
Just about every aspect of this flight has been kept confused, even the importance of the team and the significance of their intended meeting, the latter apparently getting further treatment in your last posting.
I believe that they were planning a significant step up in the military effort which was at odds with the path MI6 were following.
You say you were there and looked over their maps in flight planning – did you notice anyone unusual at the pre flight briefing or hanging around where you were looking at those maps?
Just for the record, whether you think it a good idea or not, for any persons interested in this crash for technical reasons or whatever the exploration of the navigation aspect as I have endeavored to do has brought awareness of (and hopefully clarity to) several pertinent factors, some of which are:
The actual, common local weather conditions;
The intended path;
The regular turning point on that leg;
The flight rules applicable to a helo in those circumstances;
The limitations of the SuperTANS and the crew’s awareness of this;
The possible alternative navigation system that may have been made available;
The allocation of SSR codes in those circumstances;
The timing of the crash with respect to political events.
All rather worthwhile, I would have thought.