walter kennedy,
You inadvertantly hit the nail on the head in your last posting when you referred to "navigation aids". That is exactly what they are - AIDS. They assist the crew in their navigation.
The responsibility for the safe conduct of the flight rests solely with the crew.
Furthermore; SOP's required the crew, in the eventuality of the possibility that the aircraft would enter IMC at low level, to climb at maximum possible rate until at or above MSA. If this was not practicable then they should have slowed down; stopped and turned around to return from whence they had come. The statement of the BOI that the crew "selected an inappropriate rate of climb to clear the Mull" is arrant nonsense. If you are about to go IMC at low level your only option is a max rate climb and an avoiding turn away from high ground.
Ther have been people in the past who have failed to agree with this concept; only a very few of them, however, are available to argue their point of view.
Last edited by cazatou; 23rd Mar 2006 at 19:52.