Two long threads.....
A lot of passionately stated opinions. I'm wondering why I'm posting...
Bose X - yep legally the correct analysis. PIC is responsible. Who is/was the PIC - well in this case it is not clear cut from my viewpoint. With low hours I certainly did not have the 'authority' to question let alone contradict CFIs and the like.
To an extent that is the problem with the whole semi-militaristic approach that flight training has. And I cannot help but comment on DFC's the 'rules' approach - blindness personified.
If pilots are taught to make good decisions then the vast majority of 'the law' is completely irrelevant - which may upset DFC but would hopefully mean we would not have incidents like this to discuss.
It is a side issue but I'm increasingly concerned by the A to B thinking that so many posters exhibit. I' m a vanilla PPL, no IMC or IR. I tour VFR and I take pot luck on the weather. The idea of A to B is a desired result, flying to a schedule or absolute end point is fine for IRs and bluntly a vain hope otherwise.
I have no doubt that Mr Walker was strongly influenced by the CFI and his companians. They all it seems had this idea that regardless of the conditions all this would be possible. That, events have shown was apallingly bad decision making. To an extent I'm still baffled by those decisions. Mr Walker I can see would defer to his more experienced companians - but what were they on? How on earth did they think this plan would work?
To an extent that brings it all down to the very small group - the four who set out, the CFI and ??
A lot of the suggestions from posters - PPLs authorised by CFIs? Obviously will not work - look what happened here! The rules say XYZ so you can only do XYZ when some other condition prevails - never going to work. How many of us break the speed limits? - all of us! - because we assess what is genuinely required and when it is not required we break those blind and dumb rules. It's part of being human.
The answer is not rules or authorisations. It's learning decision making and how not to get pushed into a corner. I'd like to think that from this incident many pilots would learn those lessons.