Taildragger67,
"So to with Erebus - whilst it is undeniable that TE901's crew flew below 16000', to then say they are fully to blame would have meant other human and organisational factors would not have been fixed."
My argument has been, and still is, that the Mahon enquiry was wrong in stating that no blame should be placed on the crew. No where have I stated that they were fully to blame.
As you say it is a learning process, but if the lessons learnt are not correct where is the value??
The following statement from Ron Chippendale would be what I find sums up the situation best, but it would appear I am in a minority with this belief, but hopefully it has made people rethink Mahons findings.
"The errors in the briefing were serious but not an absolute excuse for the accident when the means were readily available for the pilot in command to make certain he knew where he was."