0755 Client to Pilot: Battersea is open
0755 Pilot to Operator: Can’t get in Elstree hdg back assume clear still
0755 Operator to Pilot: Yes it’s fine still here. (This text was not read.)
The last read and sent text messages were approximately four minutes before the collision with the crane:
At 0756, following the message from the client telling him Battersea was open, the pilot asked ATC to confirm.
It was only after ATC confirmed that it was, that he subsequently descended - while waiting to be cleared to Battersea.
Can we fairly state that had the Pilot not been texting, he would not have been told about Battersea and would not have asked ATC about Battersea, as he clearly indicated he had over flown Elstree and could not find a way down and was returning to Redhill?
If we can, then I would suggest that in that case, Texting caused him to divert from his best decision of all that Day, and thus Texting would have been the Trigger that got pulled on the Gun.