Well now, I thought the whole point about this type of forum was that you could air your views about all aspects of a thread, be that the decision making process, CRM, accountability etc.
I'm against a blame culture (unless circumstances dictate otherwise), but to all you righteous posters out there who are somewhat fixated on the lady's commendable decision to tell others her story - you are missing the point.
The way to avoid another one of these accidents is to look at what led to the event - this inevitably entails some up close and personal disection of the flight & relevant factors. No-one should be getting called names but you have to expect a fairly low score out of 10 for the way this mission went. Yes it was an accident, ie not wilful BUT, I'm not going to declare this pilot the flyer of the year unlike most of the folks above..
My initial point still stands - put fairly weak aircrew in circumstances that demand higher performance than they can achieve and inevitably things may go wrong. No doubt this lady was doing her best but she was swamped by the conditions. What could have prevented it? She could/should have declined the job, or turned back way earlier. The company who employed her are definitely at fault for either employing a weak pilot and/or not setting robust criteria by which missions could be flown.
I know that using Hindsight Vision Gog's is easy but it is this examination that allows us all to learn - not slapping ourselves on the back for rallying to a fellow pilot's cause without a proper debrief.
I expect SD can have a mild chuckle about the event in the bar now, she'll be a fair bit wiser as well.
Agree with SAS re the merits of an honest and spirited discussion!
SB