Steve Zissou,
At no point was VHF contact established with any ground stations.
From official accident report compiled by the Chief Accident Investigator
" The co-pilot was devoting a significant proportion of his time in an endeavour to establish VHF
contact with the McMurdo ground stations and did not monitor the decisions of the pilot in
command adequately in that he did not offer any criticism of the intention to descend below
MSA in contravention of company restrictions and basic good airmanship."
3.21 The crew were distracted but not preoccupied by their failure to raise the Ice Tower or any local
ground station on VHF, the failure of the DME to lock on to the TACAN and the lack of any
identification of the aircraft on radar."
"The comment "I don't like this" examined in it's context and the fact that it was during an exchange between the flight crew on the loss of VHF contact with McMurdo."
From whence do you get "the fact" on loss of "VHF contact with McMurdo". ? VHF contact was never established, why?? because there was a massive mountain between them, the same reason DME lock on was never established.
Have a look again at the requirements for descent you will no doubt notice it had to be within 20 nautical miles of Tacan ch 29.
The reasons for these descent requirements are so glaringly obvious, Mt Erebus was well clear of them, any error in track, AINS nav, whiteout, sector whiteout or what have you would be irrelevant.
Last edited by prospector; 29th Jun 2009 at 08:25.