What was required of the pilots of these scenic flights, once they descended below the formal MSA, was the navigational skill which we call pilotage. Pilotage in such a locale as McMurdo requires local knowledge, a knowledge of which the five flight crew members were entirely bereft.
A very intriguing point Cazalet33.
Jim Collins asked Mulgrew if he could "get them out over the Wright Valley" to which Mulgrew replied "no problem". So clearly Collins was thinking along the lines of potentially using Mulgrew in the "maritime pilot" role you describe. It never came to that, but.... at the very least represents yet another example of complacency inappropriate to commercial jet transport.
It was widely known, at all levels of management, that those flights regularly flew well below the nominal floor of 6,000'. As for sending captains down there with zero experience of Antarctica: it was diabolically dangerous. All three members of the crew had never been there before. For the CAA to have allowed such a reckless policy was unforgivable.
Agreed. As it was for Air NZ to request such a reckless policy.