Mr Purdey,
there's also a third option - they could see ahead and it was suitable for them to continue their journey.
However, no-one knows what could be seen from the cockpit, so this whole argument relating to weather is, as has been said many times before, pointless.
Cazatou, the 9 witnesses were in the cloud and not looking towards the Mull. A totally different situation from that of the crew.
Off on a short holiday now, so I'll bow out of the weather guessing game for a short while.
Regards all.
Brian
"Justice has no expiry date" - John Cook