Among the briefing material supplied to crew were two copies of charts, an RNC4 and a McMurdo area chart.
Both these clearly showed a waypoint at “BYRD”, S 77.30 E 165.00, this at least visually would have encouraged the impression the approach to McMurdo was over sea or pack ice.
But whether the Collins crew had a mandate for the descent remains debatable.
While in practice the radio/inertial nav system was accurate, it did have an acceptable drift rate of around 1.7 nm/ hour without radio update so after the transit to the ice there could have been a circle of position around 6 nm diameter. Additionally, instrument approaches using the nav system were not permitted.
The mis-identification of the landmarks visible was an unfortunate map reading error. We should recall that Jim Collins as an airline pilot had not map read for about 22 years since his time in the RNZAF.
To add to the what if, there was certainly one flight where the second F/O transferred the nav position from the display on the overhead panel onto a topo map.
I also ponder what the plan was for the exit from the area assuming there had been a successful lower level sight seeing activity.
An early post mentioned the other F/O, “Brick” Lucas. His body was found within the wreckage in a position suggesting he was seated back within the cabin on impact.
The missing pages of the diary also puzzles observers. I suspect, that as WW2 aircrew who did not return invariably had their personal effects sanitized, that similar may, just may have happened in this case. The latter comment is not an attempt to condone the alleged break-ins of the homes.
Note should also be made that at the Royal Commission witnesses were required to speak at dictation speed or slower. Maybe this in part explains Ian Gemmell’s responses frequently in “monosyllables?” And yes he did spend some years as Ops Manager with Polynesian at Apia.