Cazatou
Your point:
3. To fly at high speed at low level directly towards high ground shrouded in mist and low cloud whilst carrying Pax is crass stupidity which can only result in a finding of Gross Negligence irrespective of whether such action results in an accident or not.
Sorry Caz, but I have to disagree completely.
Firstly, the pax are irrelevant - no-one wants to crash and die whether they have pax on board or not and, secondly, flying towards that cloud-covered headland is fine if you intend to turn to avoid it.
Have you ever flown in a fast jet down the 'A5 pass' in North Wales? To do that you have to point yourself at 420 kts and 250 ft towards a mountain, then make a 4g turn through about 90 degrees to avoid hitting it. People have been planning, executing and surviving that manoeuvre for donkey's years (a manoeuvre that starts the turn at a similar distance to the 7-degree turn our much-slower Chinook should have started), but no-one suggests that that is Gross Negligence.