jayteeto
So what you are saying is that "crews started at all times of day" and never bothered with a Met Brief.!!!!!!?
Is that correct?
Or do you wish to reconsider that post?
Jayteeto has no need to reconsider that post.
Aldergrove was, at that time, a busy military base and a busy civil airport. The two activities were, however, completely separate, on opposite sides of the airfield. The Met Office was on the civil airport side. Crews could not travel to the civil side as they were dressed in military flying suits and armed. The Met forecasters were not required to travel to the military side. Indeed, such a journey could have put them at risk if they were seen going in and out of a military establishment.
From the outset, support helicopter crews are trained to operate independently, in remote locations, where access to met is limited. They become expert at interpreting written met reports, METARs and TAFs, and the implications for their ac and mission/task. They will be checked on this skill every year during the STANEVAL visit.
So the crew in this case did not attend a formal met brief, nor could they. But they will have pored over the latest met info, briefed this as a crew, and probably briefed the duty authoriser to that effect, as their out brief.
The fact that they did not attend a face-to-face met brief is a complete red herring.