Hmmm - odd how after this accident, everyone was reminded of the rules concerning responsibility for safe terrain avoidance in IMC whether under RAS or RIS....... .. .There are some pilots who seem to think that RAS will cocoon them from any responsibility for safe separation from other ac and/or the ground. A colleague of mine was once flying in IMC and asked for a cloudbreak; ATC advised that they could only see him down to the safe sector altitude, any further descent would be 'at his own discretion'. So he continued his descent and found himself facing Didcot power station at very close range. Afterwards he told me that he considered this to be ATC's fault....... .. .Perhaps the in-built caution many pilots in the UK have when deciding to descend below safety altitude in IMC without knowing precisely where they are, what Safety Altitude in the area actually is and what mandatory on-board aids must be serviceable would have prevented this accident? I have certainly descended to the minimum permitted altitude in IMC in the past - but that was in a Vulcan with a fully serviceable crew, radar, radio altimeter, TFR....and even then it was very hard work to continue the flight for any length of time in safety. To descend in IMC below SA in a single seat jet in unfamiliar territory whilst under RAS to me seems fraught with danger.....