Dear Old Baston,
I too have read all those hundreds of posts on supposed failures in Airmanship. Unlike you I have also understood them.
Let us look at them one at a time:
1. The crew failed to take adequate breakfast. Wrong
2. The crew planned to exceed crew duty. Speculative and irrelevant. They hadn't
3. The crew did not complete all of the planning themselves. True, but the person who assisted was a Navigator qualified for the task. Common practice.
4. The planning was flawed. Really? Why did the BOI, Reviewing Officers and other investigations not crtiticise both Planning and Authorisation.
5. No irregularities reported by ATC or anyone else on departure.
6. Departure radio call made on time.
7. Lastly, and most importantly, the aircraft was reported in VMC at safe height and speed at the very point (According to Wratten) the negligence was being committed.
I may have missed some points so please enlighten as us to where you see the the poor Airmanship or flaws in planning
John Purdey,
As Vertico so rightly pointed out, if the aircraft experienced the type of problems envisaged by Sqn Ldr Burke, the crew may well have been passengers at the scene of the accident.
I have also mentioned many times, the possibility of Visual Illusion and Distraction. Both fairly common incidents. This would make this accident Aircrew Error.
Is that really too difficult to hoist on board.
Regards