it is only Mahon's opinion that the crew were blameless that is in dispute.
And that's the opinion that is making its way into school curriculums, popular media and history books. Aside from the injustice, it also sets a dangerous precedent to aviation culture.
3 Holer said:
Whiteout is not a theory, it is a factual optical illusion.
Oxymoronic term "factual optical illusion" aside, any speculation about what the crew actually perceived visually at 1500' feet is just that - speculation.
No-one however has asserted that the crew were duped by some optical illusion all the way from 13,000' down to 1500' however - yet still, they never saw the mountain. That's because to the south of the aircraft from high altitude down it was pretty much a wall of cloud. Which they were happy to descend under, almost to ground level without radar guidance.