For goodness sake folk, stop talking about rules etc. When the sh*t hits the fan or is about to, then any experienced aircrew(and both these guys were) will take whatever action is necessary to avoid killing themselves. If that action is to climb above the known highest point within a reasonable distance of the point they know they are at, then the official method of calculating safety altitude goes out the window. If that altitude is above icing conditions, so be it, it's still a better option than flying into the mountain, because as you know where you are you also know that you can descend once clear of the high ground and get below the icing level and back to VFR. People who say that once you have climbed to SA you are stuck there have clearly little if any experience of low level flying. Yes I have been there and done it albeit at 420 kts without the icing concerns, but the principle remains the same.
But.... and this is the important bit.....none of us know without any doubt whatsoever, what happened on that fatefull day, and we can speculate, give our points of view, make educated guesses based on experience, but none of us know .
The ridiculous findings have to be changed.
ps Before somebody says that they should not have got into a position where going IMC was inevitable, we do not know why they finished up where they did, we can only speculate and that just is not good enough.
Last edited by Romeo Oscar Golf; 11th Jan 2010 at 00:10.
Reason: important addition