2015
Prospector,
I think you take us to exactly the sort of systemically unsafe issues that I have alluded to.
Say 3 Captains were designated in 1977 to be the specialist PIC for all the Antarctic flights PIC (Gemmell? Grundy? Vette?). 28 November 1979 would have been about the 5th individual trip, unless they had commanded the 1 previous diversion to the South Pole and the 1 previous diversion to the dry valleys.
With a plane full of punters wanting to see Mt Erebus, McMurdo and Scott as the highlight of their trip, do you think these PICs would have been more inclined to sooner divert to the dry valleys (if marginal), than any PIC making his only trip (claiming his perk) to the Antarctic...?
Systemic safety, which was singularly missing from these flights. A nav track that approaches out of radar/VHF coverage until overflying an active volcano just before your waypoint for low level sightseeing? Seriously?
Get on the USN ATC radar at the Byrd reporting point, and stay on it until you head back to Christchurch, and what can go wrong? If a PIC strays too close to high terrain, or falls for any optical illusion, USN ATC can warn him.
WW
Last edited by Welsh Wingman; 15th Feb 2016 at 23:53.