...but it would have been totally unthinkable to have some crews fly around in a CAT II/III aircraft without themselves being qualified/current to operate the equipment to it's maximum extent. That diversion probably cost the company more that cramming some LVP training into the crew's semiannual sim training...
Just how many more times does this have to be re-iterated?
Many companies require their pilots to have a certain number of hours or sectors or whatever before they are actually qualified to fly these CAT II approaches unsupervised. This is to ensure that they have enough experience on type to safely handle the aircraft when they disconnect the autopilot at 80ft, which is difficult to do in poor weather. It is nothing to do with the level of training- the pilot would have done his CAT II training as part of his TQ course- he merely did not have enough hours to meet the company Operations Manual requirements. Nothing to do with more training- nothing to do with experience- plenty to do with compliance with the operator's AOC.
Why didn't he just opt to land the aircraft? Because of the RULES - not because it would have been unsafe!
Of COURSE that's the reason! What do you think the lawyers would say when he pranged it? "Oh the rules don't matter because he was trying to get his passengers to their meetings!" This guy had plenty of experience (something you clearly don't) and would have breezed it, but he MUST and DID adhere to the company ops manual. Otherwise, why bother having one at all?
If you can't be bothered to read the rest of the replies, or add intelligent debate, then don't post. This question must have been answered about sixty times!