ampan
How can you possibly persist in assuming that the track was from Cape Hallet to McMurdo Station when all the evidence shows that it was not?
How can you ignore:
- All the documentary evidence showing the track was down McMurdo Sound.
- For more than a year the flight plan was to the McMurdo waypoint at 7753.0S16448.0E and this was the example shown at the briefings.
- The testimony of at least 12 people saying that they were briefed that the track was down McMurdo Sound.
- The testimony of the pilots about a left turn to get to McMurdo Station.
(By the way, contrary to what you wrote, Captan Gabriel’s testimony
is in McFarlane’s book – on page 351).
The point of the extract is to demonstrate that the “eyeballing” evidence relied on by D. Dingo was not convincing, to say the least.
The point being made is that if pilots are discussing making a left turn and estimating a distance to McMurdo Station, then they cannot possibly be coming from a final waypoint at McMurdo Station. If that doesn’t convince you that the final waypoint was not McMurdo Station, then you have a serious comprehension problem.
Assume that at the briefing on 9 Nov the pilots were told that the track was direct to McMurdo Station but were not told that this track went over Erebus (which is, basically, what Mahon found).
Bullsh!t – for all the above reasons.
Three weeks later, the night before the flight, he gets out his charts. He would have noted that a direct track from Cape Hallett to McMurdo Station went over Erebus.
That is quite possible
On plotting the track using the co-ordinates, he would have noted that the track went down McMurdo Sound, with the high ground of Ross Island (including Erebus) to the left.
The coordinates obtained from the flight plan shown at the briefing - yes. Highly likely given the testimony about him plotting the track on his atlas.
Assuming that he remembered what was said at the briefing, he would have noted the contradiction re the track.
No. Here your argument is based on the premise that he was briefed that the track was direct to McMurdo Station. There is overwhelming evidence that this did not happen. Mahon came reluctantly to the conclusion that this was part of the “organised litany of lies” he was fed from the company.
He resolved the contradiction by assuming that the track shown by the co-ordinates would be the track that the aircraft would fly, without conducting any further check. That was an error, and a reasonably bad one. He had received contradictory information re the final waypoint, so he should have checked that waypoint as it was entered the following morning. Instead, he simply assumed that the final waypoint was the same as the one he had plotted the night before. It doesn’t mean he was suicidal or insane. It just means that he made an error.
These are invalid conclusions based on the incorrect premise above.
Why did he decide to turn left?
Seems pretty logical to me. If you are flying from the left seat it is the natural way to turn. You can better see what you are turning into in a left turn. Also his last two turns had been left.
One explanation is that he recalled what he was told about the track at the briefing and the pennies started to drop. The fact is that in his actual position (at 1500 feet in Lewis Bay with Erebus dead ahead and Cape Bird to the right and behind), the only way out was to the left.
How many times does it need repeating? THE BRIEFED TRACK WAS NOT DIRECT TO McMURDO STATION.