" The de facto status quo for the Antarctic flights was that you were allowed to descend below 6,000ft upon invitation from Mac Central. This turns out to have been the de jure case as well - the only reason there's any argument over this is because ANZ led an inexperienced (in terms of line operations) investigator around by the nose."
Yes, there was a precedent set by people who should have known better, but it still did not make it legal. Since when does an invitation by a radar operator overule a regulation set by CAA????
Ron Chippendales qualifications and experience have been documented many times, they were impeccable.
Mr Mahon had never had anything to do with anything aeronautical, and I could just as easily state, with a lot more veracity, that Mahon was led around by the nose by members of ALPA, some of whose members surely had a vested interest in Mahons findings ending up the way they did.
" the rest of the public sided with Mahon."
Did they? many who have a knowledge, and experience of things aeronautical certainly did not.