Joker’s Wild,
“If you ask me, the accident report is just a little too tidy and confined in its scope”
Agreed…and perhaps it was this tidying up that took so long and why the report was not submitted in its original format.
“They had no business even considering attempting to navigate that pass that night and yet in spite of the obvious visual reality they faced, still elected to press on.”
I am not so sure that this is the case. Why would a fully qualified and experience crew choose the impossible if it was an “obvious visual reality”.
The alternative route to the destination when flown at 140 kts can’t be more than 3 or 4 minutes longer.
I can’t help feel that too much weight is being allocated to ‘the pledge’. As with many ‘pledges’ by Government Agencies they are targets, but not something to die for.
Was it a mistake to choose that route? Absolutely, self evident.
Was it the first mistake made by a GFS aircraft in this and its previous incarnation the RHKAAF when conducting a Medevac? No.
Will it be the last? No. All they can do is increase the time interval to the next incident.
The political implication of restricting their current level of support to the various Government Agencies would be unacceptable given their large budget and manpower levels.