BOAC
Your Post 4798
"It is not thought that they were in fog at waypoint change"
In their evidence to the HOL Committee the Reviewing Officers stated that negligence had occurred by the time the pilots made the waypoint change. If they were in cloud then flight should have been in accordance with IFR. If not, then they had flouted the basic rules of airmanship by flying too fast and too close towards the cloud-covered high ground of the Mull.
" Why they carried on the track they did towards the worsening weather".
As they had not planned the sortie it is unlikely that they were aware that the Lighthouse was NOT the waypoint. The actual waypoint entered into the computer was the Helicopter Landing Site. Thus they neglected the most basic rule of Flight Safety :
DON'T ASSUME - CHECK!!
Of course, if they were aware of the actual position of the waypoint then the finding of Gross Negligence would, in my opinion, be incorrect. The correct finding would have been Recklessness.