I am having a problem with my home computer compatibility with pprune site, so I have now decamped to friend's computer because I feel this matter is crucial for all to understand.
The altimetry and altitude question relating to this accident has been well known to us for a considerable time. Reference the reply to Mickydrip's last posting concerning discussion on this issue at the Court Martial, this was the very item that the Sqn. Ldr. aircrew witness got so wrong. His initial findings were to be presented to the Board of Inquiry and were subsequently presented to the Court Martial as an exhibit.
He also got it wrong when initially asked to demonstrate his findings to the Board of the Court Martial. However, following further questioning by the defence QC he, the witness, subsequently came to the same result as us; the cockpit indication on the altimeter would have been 3700 ft (with the Regional Pressure Setting, which was agreed to have been set).
The leader of a Tornado formation had previously reported to the Court Martial that, not long before the crash, the white-out conditions localised around the Ben McDhui area were the worst that he had ever encountered and turned away. The Court Martial had already been presented with evidence of a high rate of descent not long before impact and that the aircraft impacted in level flight.
This leads to my supposition that these aircraft were visual with the surface but had very little time to adjust to the white-out conditions after their rapid descent and subsequently impacted with snow covered terrain.