In regard to the "land in the field if I have to" I said that Sir Niall raised a good point that it COULD be just something that someone has said in jest but never actually intended to do. I didnt know PB personally and hadnt considered this could be something he would say in jest when i first read the report - it was just another red flag amongst many. Thus Sir Niall who DID KNOW PB made a valid point. You would need to have known PB and his previous actions (did he ever previously pick up from a field when primary site was not available etc) to make a judgement.
For me though, other than possibly indicating a particular attitude to risk, that comment is not that relevent to the actual crash.
My view is that the accident sequence started when PB made a decision to try and get into Battersea from his safe position on top of the fog. From everything I have seen and read in the AAIB report and on this forum including in particular the descent path and the routing through R157 I can only deduce he was decending through cloud with maybe patches of viz here and there. The descent doesnt suggest a drop through a "hole". He was in an IFR machine and presumably held an Instrument licence (does an ATPL included Insrument or is instrument additional?) so may have felt perfectly able to "safely" decend through the muck. Again I would want to know if this sort of thing had been done before by PB before drawing conclusions.
The question then was asked Why did he hit the Crane? For me there is a much bigger question. Why did he fly JUST OVER a BLOODY GREAT BUILDING. If he knew the building was there flying over it would have been a clear 500ft violation. I can only deduce that he didnt know the building was there and the clear inference from that is because he had limited or no vizibility and maybe also wasnt completely sure of his exact location (his hold was not where his clearance to hold had been given and he had passed through R157).
The discussion about the Cranes overnight position, how it was lit etc etc all are relevent in maybe having provided PB a get out of jail free card but they are not the cause of this accident in my view.