That’s fair comment from Tom and I’d really like for it to happen but as a professional operating in the transitional period, you have to work with what you’re given and apply appropriate safety margins.
The forecast and actuals at CYHZ seem pretty grim for the day of the accident. It’s reported that they held for some considerable time, so it looks like extra fuel was taken. With 280’ above the runway and 1sm as the minima, chances were high that the non-precision approach would fail.
I’d really like to know what the view out of the cockpit looked like in the last 20-30s after they went below MDA. What convinced them to continue with such a drastic undershoot?