Gillespie field:That would assume local knowledge which neither pilot neccessarily had. However I would be interested in seeing the 0500 TAF for EICK that morning. Presumably it would have forecast a time for the fog to lift which would have influenced their decision to depart and how long to hold. If it had failed to disappear at the forecast time that would have left them holding.
They could have diverted but the fog was expected to lift and it duly did shortly after the accident.
This will no doubt be addressed in the final report.