Originally Posted by
Chronic Snoozer
Look, this is getting tedious. After receiving a mission briefing for his first trip to Antarctica, most would say it is fair to assume the Captain had an 'awareness' of whiteout and its dangers. The original quote from prospector is fair and uncontroversial. The captain was even quoted on the CVR saying that it doesn't look good.
I'd familiarise myself with the details of the case before making such sweeping statements. First, the briefing contained information on whiteout, but it was whiteout of the kind caused by snow flurries and high winds at low altitude (as might be encountered when making an emergency landing on the ice runway for example) - not "sector whiteout" of the kind it is likely they encountered in this case. The "doesn't look good" statement is difficult to draw conclusions from because there's no context stating *what* didn't look good - he may have been talking about the overcast to (what he was expecting to be) the southeast obscuring the ground, and the knock-on effect that would cause a flight that was supposed to be for sightseeing.
In any case, the the brief trepidation was ended when the Mac Central controller told them that they had 40 miles plus visibility under 2,500ft and as such VFR was completely possible as long as they let down when they did.
The descent - despite what prospector claims - was performed with the consent of all flight crew in the cockpit at the time. Prospector's claims are based on the unauthorised transcript changes made by Chippindale with ANZ Chief (management) Pilot Gemmell's "assistance".
No it doesn't but prospector is saying that some blame rests with the crew. Flying into terra firma is unequivocal proof of that.
CFIT is proof that something went wrong, but it does not automatically follow that it is the flight crew's fault. Remember that the advent of computerised flight plans meant that for the first time responsibility for navigation was taken out of the flight deck, and it was the action of the Chief Navigator - not the flight crew - that had them starting their descent 26 miles east of where they expected to be, exacerbated by the visual illusions for which they had not been trained providing a false visual confirmation of their location. Prospector's position is predicated on a set of regulations that were out of date in terms of responsibility for navigation, along with an almost fawning regard for the management of ANZ at the time. I have to wonder whether he is related in some way to Muldoon, Morrie Davies or one of the management at this point.