Originally Posted by
prospector
Brian, please read what was written, of course many people are aware of whiteout, the point I made was that nobody had defined any such thing as sector whiteout, once again I quote from John King's publication.
How many trips did Gordon Vette do to McMurdo?, and yet he discovered a phenomenon that people with many years experience in that environment had never encountered?
This ground has been covered before in these threads but is still very relevant. The statements by Captain Derek Ellis in a letter to NZALPA.
You will no doubt be aware of the qualifications and experience held by Captain Derek Ellis
If you are going to fly in an unfamiliar environment, it would be unwise to go down to a low level below MSA unless is very nice clear weather. I have flown a lot in the arctic and am quite familiar with whiteout conditions. I hope that I might have recognized the conditions encountered.
On the other hand, if flying flying in desert areas of a similar topography as the My. Erebus area, I think I would stay above my MSA unless it was very obvious that the weather was nice. I have no real experience in desert areas.
There are all kinds of light aircraft that have crashed under similar circumstances. The accidents reports invariably put the blame on the PIC. This just happened to be a bigger aircraft.
Of course there are other issues to be considered, but having incorrect coordinates just shows how you cant trust anyone. If you are going to break some rules, you better make 1000% sure that you can get away with it. Flying into milky white or conditions without it being one of those nice clear days over the mountains increases risk if below a safe altitude.