FL thanks for encouraging a balanced discussion.
Having shared my perspective of the day.. on another note, we were slotted prior to departure on that day due fog and cloud base. Having monitored the weather from 0600, it was certainly worse early on clearly invoking a reduced flow rate into London airports. The trend was pretty static until late morning.
At the level that helicopter was transiting, I do very much doubt that even if the crane was made out of Fluorescent tubing, it would have made little or no difference to its visability in those conditions especially as moderate icing was also a factor in that layer.
The fact remains that the main reason for lighting on these structures is for visibility at night, not for illumination in IMC as SVFR rules are in place to protect aircraft from such an event. The law was ignored and as a consequence, this tragedy happened.
Last edited by Neon Circuits; 27th Jan 2013 at 14:04.