SFFP
Re your 6693
Mr Ellacott, who was the first on the scene of the crash, stated on oath that the visibility was "only about nine or ten feet maximum."
He also stated "It was difficult to say how far I was from the point of the explosion, but I don't think I could have been more than 100 yards." That is not a great distance; in fact it is the length of the garden at our main house.
100 yards equates to 91.4 metres and the AAIB assessed the impact speed as 150 kts which equates to 77 metres per second. The Pilots would, therefore, have had only a maximum of 1.187 seconds visual warning of impact to assimilate the danger and react. Incidentally, the SAR Sea Kings which were scrambled to the site of the accident reported hover-taxiing in visibility of 20 feet or less to get to the crash site.