Vec
As I said, you may be right, although as a non-pilot I sense a slight contradiction between “IFR” and the possibility you mention of them only having a map – but that is from a viewpoint which takes into account none of the nav kit was cleared for use anyway.
they had brought upon themselves an emergency, a crisis of time
But another crisis of time was created long before 2.6.94, ignored for many months and at the last minute the “solution” was to set aside every single mandated regulation in the book and issue an RTS. What was the “emergency” that caused ACAS to make such a decision? After all, he still had the Mk1 – the aircrews’ preferred aircraft.
The difference is that, while the crew had seconds to deal with whatever occurred in ZD576, the Air Staffs had many months to ponder what to do when told the Mk2 should not be released to service. I’m not sure if they did any “pondering”, but the gross negligence, maladministration and failure of Duty of Care inherent in their decision is self evident.