There really has been an awful lot of irrelevant trivia discussed on this thread for a long time. Maybe I could address a few of the issues.
The whole discussion of the mis-plotted lighthouse and TANS accuracy is over blown. The route across to the Mull provides only one clear navigation point whose Grid reference is easily discerned to enter into the TANS and that is the lighthouse. However, as it is up on the hill, nobody ever actually intends to overfly it. Having just flown at low level over the sea, one simply follows the coastline for a further couple of minutes to coast in. The crew were aware of the general cloud base and would never have intended to fly over the light house and on over the highest ground in a straight line, although that would have been on their map no doubt.
As they approached poor weather, the easiest and safest option would have been to stay over the water to the left of the Mull as had probably been their intention. In my opinion, there must have been a compelling reason to elect to fly over the land! Rick and John were excellent operators and neither complacent enough to fail to challenge so obviously a strange action.
At that level and position, there is no ATC coverage until you clear the high ground and speak to Macrihanish. HF is hardly a reliable means of comms even if already tuned. To operate at low level over the water was a simple task for this crew and comments re low level aborts show an absolutely fundamental misunderstanding of helo operations. They would not have put the aircraft in such a situation unless there was a dire necessity to do so.
The crew and not eaten in the mess since breakfast but the squadron had a well stocked kitchen which was used by all pilots (unless they had sloped of to the mess for lunch, not intending to return). Most importantly, it was free in the squadron!
The crewman had definitely prepared their own maps because I was in flight planning and saw them do it. I do not know if they were making any for the pilots. Whether they copied Ian’s route or not is irrelevant, as for the critical leg the planning requirements were as already stated.
It was squadron policy to outbrief with the DA if possible. It was also extremely common for them not to do so. The Chinook crews flew a different A/C, were tasked separately and came from a different squadron with entirely different SOP’s, save the general rules pertaining to the NI flying order book. Often their tasks were outside of times that a DA was present and most importantly, they self authorised anyway.
As has been stated Rick was Above average and John High average primarily as he was new to one of the most demanding roles in the entire RAF. John had been assessed as Above the Average on his previous full tour in NI.
Yes the crew clearly intended to return that night as the forecast weather was perfectly acceptable for the sortie given their experience and clearance. When they left they appeared entirely relaxed and professionally prepared for the trip.