It would be if you chose to disregard the MDA of 16000 FT.
Dream Land, you are missing the point in more ways than one.
You're way off base to say that he "disregarded" the MDA. If you read back over the last 4 or so pages of this thread, you will find that:
1. It was not an S.O.P to observe this "MDA". The real S.O.P was to descend where/when they actually did;
2. The crew were briefed to descend where/when they did.
And, the whole point of the RNAV approach analogy is to demonstrate that the actions of other persons on the ground - before you take off - can bring about your demise through no fault of your own.
If you were conducting an RNAV approach as per my example then you would have descended below the MDA in the course of conducting it. So this response is really quite dopey:
It would be if you chose to disregard the MDA of 16000 FT.
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1AHRS, very good post that summarises the circumstances very well.
DozyWannabe gave a very similar summary much earlier.