f that's the case then why erase the tapes? Why erase the one thing that could prove pilot error and exonerate the controllers?
I have no idea how you come to that conclusion, the radar is not relevant after the Captain requests a VMC descent. Do you think the radar operator should have said something along the lines that I do not believe you are VMC and I do not believe you can see where you are going????
The only argument I would have with radar is that previous crews reported that Ross Island was discernable with the aircraft radar in mapping mode. Mahon went to great lengths, and taxpayer expense, by managing to get a trip to America and quizzing the manufacturers of the radar, they told him there was not enough water content in the cloud and ice covered slopes of Ross Island and Erebus to get a decent return.. What then about a radar return from the black rock cliffs that you spend so much time explaining they could see, and THOUGHT were not the cliffs of Ross Island?