Supplementary
Wow this thread can move fast! Firstly, I was in the MOD at that time, and in case someone thinks it relevant, I was of the same rank as the President of the Board of Inquiry, and was concerned with aircrew training. I have not read the full BOI, but I know from the data gathered a huge effort had gone into determining the speed and flight vector of the aircraft at the time of impact, and it was not up. Equally, I know a great deal of work was done to establish the state of the aircraft systems at impact, and everything was working. Correct me if I am wrong.
As stated elsewhere, no pilot would deliberately fly into the ground, and it is quite reasonable to assume that they did not think they were about to hit land. So what were they doing? Were they distracted? Did they enter cloud without adequate warning? So many questions and no answers. As in so many cases like this, and many military accidents, the benefit of a FDR and CVR would perhaps give clues, one thing is for sure - there were errors of judgement by both pilots.
The question was asked about the crew of aircraft involved in CFIT accidents being found culpably or gossly negligent. Personally, I cannot remember such an occurence except when it was patently obvious and demonstrably proven, that such was the case. My personal view is that whilst errors of judgement were made, it cannot be shown that the crew deliberately ignored orders and SOPs relevant to the stage of flight when it crashed. I am also mindful of the rearch on perception done by an RAF IAM aviation specialist. He could demonstrate that aircraw had tendencies based on "trust" to "perceive" what they wanted or expected to see. Based on my 12 years of FJ, ME and RW instruction, I have observed dozens of instances of this happening. Usually, the perception is corrected quickly, but not always, and I have had on several occasions to rescue the situation. My theory would be that the pilots were perceiving what they expected to see based on the "trust" they held based on their extensive experience, and did not have time to correct their spatial awareness to reality.
Military pilots who complete lengthy flying careers all have stories of "There but for the grace of God" ... or "Action not As Planned", I certainly have. This tragic accident could easily have fallen into the former category, but sadly did not.