Gumbyswa
I apologise if I misrepresented your expert testimony to the GCM. My source of information is the daily report written by Dick Doleman et al for the PPRuNe forum. I have not read a transcript of the GCM and only attended the trial when I was appearing before the court as a defence eye-witness.
One extract from this report states in relation to evidence given by you :
" It was elicited from the witness that the descent profile prior to impact indicated the likelihood of a descent in VMC". ( Post for Day 9 ).
I understand this to mean, in layman's terms, that the pilots probably had some visual contact with the ground through broken cloud.
In recording Michael Jones's concluding summary the report states :
" Maj Chamberlain conceded that the rate of descent towards Ben Mc Dui (as put forward by the prosecution ) did not support the prosecution case of a formation descent in IMC straight to the point of impact ". ( Post 9 )
Clearly these extracts are relevant to the argument I put forward in Post 73 on the forum - that Craig Penrice's hypothesis is the only tenable one. I would be grateful if you would correct any factual errors in the extracts I have quoted.
I have not heard mention of the aviation fuel evidence before. If you have any details of the calculations with respect to this matter I would be interested to read them.
I agree totally with your observation that the blame for the crash should not be attributed to pilot or controller error. I have no first hand knowledge of piloting an aircraft or of air traffic control. I can only compare the risks of low level flying at high speed with those that go with mountaineering. Both are activities sometimes carried out at the limits of what is humanly possible. Just occasionally tragic accidents happen to even the most experienced of practitioners. A rock hold may suddenly break or a section of snow unexpectedly give way. Unless all the details of an accident are known with near certainty then facile judgements, such as pinning the blame on pilot or controller error, should never be made.