how do we know that switching off the fwd ones on both baggers was not the cause of them colliding with one another
chug:
At the risk of incurring your wrath ... if both pilots reported to the controllers that they had visual on the other, and if the procedural control of altitude separation were being maintained (or not), then perhaps the lights being on or off is only part of the problem and not quite the "smoking gun" that it is being protrayed as. (If not being sold as such, that is how this line is coming off, perhaps unintentionally).
Night formation has its share of hazards regardless of kit installed. Closure rates can be deceptive day or night, and certainly much tougher at night.
FWIW, a very good friend of mine made a small mistake in closure rate back in 1984, flying an A-6 over the Med, during a low level rendezvous with his flight lead.
Daytime. (RIP, Pat.
)
If these two Sea Kings were doing a join up in the dark ... it only takes a small mistake for things to go wrong.