Originally Posted by
His dudeness
when 2 pilots make a mistake that is bordering on the ridiculous, and not being aware that they are in what you call the unknown, then I think there is something underlying that needs to be found.
From my humble point of view far below the gods, I agree, but it's not clear what the underlying something was, or whether we'll ever know. The only substantive reason the PIC gave was "we were unsure what level Two Hundred meant." Fatigue may have been a factor but the report doesn't indicate either way. Basically there was a failure to aviate and navigate, only a few minutes after take-off when at least one of the pilots might surely have been able to understand the lack of digits on the altimeter (or whatever passes for an altimeter) and where they were going. Neither of the pilots seems to have thought or said "Whatever FL Two Hundred means, WTF are we doing down here among the treetops, heading for high ground?"