DB,
As there are numerous investigations and reviews, I am not sure to which you suggest i read.
I found this in a summary. Is this what you are referring to when you talk about RAF Minimums and such?
RAF Visual Flight Rules (VFR) require the crew to have a minimum visibility of 5.5 kilometres above 140 knots, or minimum visibility of one kilometre travelling below 140 knots;[25] if VFR conditions are lost an emergency climb must be immediately flown.[26] Nine out of ten witnesses interviewed in the inquiry reported visibility at ground level in the fog as being as low as ten to one hundred metres at the time of the crash; in-flight visibility may have been more or less than this. The tenth witness, a yachtsman who was offshore, reported it as being 1 mile, though he is regarded as a less reliable witness as he changed his testimony.[27]
If witness accounts of visibility are correct, the pilots should have transferred to Instrument Flight Rules,[28] which would require the pilots to slow the aircraft and climb to a safe altitude at the best climbing speed.[29] In the area around the Mull of Kintyre, the safe altitude would be 2,400 feet above sea level, 1,000 feet above the highest point of the terrain.[30] The height of the crash site of ZD576 was 810 feet, 1,600 feet below the minimum safe level.[6] The Board of Inquiry into the accident recommended formal procedures for transition from Visual Flight Rules to Instrument Flight Rules in mid-flight be developed, and the RAF has since integrated such practices into standard pilot training.[31]
Regarding negligence on the part of the pilots, the 2011 Report said "the possibility that there had been gross negligence could not be ruled out, but there were many grounds for doubt and the pilots were entitled to the benefit of it... [T]he Reviewing Officers had failed to take account of the high calibre of two Special Forces pilots who had no reputation for recklessness."[32]