meadowbank
QUOTE
The one thing that you cannot do is exclude the weather from this tragedy.
I totally agree.
The Investigating BOI stated that the forecast weather " was suitable for the flight but would have required flight in accordance with IFR in the vicinity of the Mull of Kintyre."
As BEagle has pointed out before now, that was a slightly odd way of putting things. To express it slightly differently I would suggest that it should have read that the forecast weather " was suitable for the flight, but would have precluded flight in accordance with VFR in the vicinity of the Mull of Kintyre."
Therefore the Chinook should have been at or above Safety Altitude as it approached the Mull and should only have descended to low level again once it was demonstrably certain that the weather conditions permitted flight in accordance with VFR.
The crew did not so do - with tragic results.