megan's #839 continues with another irrelevant reference to something Chippendale says, but continues on to misquote the evidence. It is said that the audio contained a reference "to McMurdo", the suggestion being that that phrase could include a location 20 miles to the west of McMurdo Station. Let's look at the precise wording. If Megan can be bothered, it's in Exhibit 12: " A standard route definition will be used employing the From-Via-To Format. Enter NZAA 79S/167E this being the approximate co-ordinates of McMurdo Station."
They then went into the simulator, which was programed by F/O Cassin using an old flight plan. After the simulator was used to practise the change to grid navigation, it was then repositioned to overhead the final waypoint to practise a cloud-break procedure. So where did it end up? Overhead McMurdo Station, or 20 miles west. Answer: Overhead McMurdo Station.
There is absolutely no doubt that every pilot who attended the briefing believed that the final waypoint was at McMurdo Station, hence Captain Simpson's surprise when he found that it wasn't.
What about all the evidence from other pilots saying that they didn't think the route went over Erebus and thought it would be to their left? There is nothing inconsistent in that. Note that the only map they had was a photocopy of the inset to NZMS135, which didn't include Cape Hallett - so they could not picture a line from Cape Hallett to McMurdo Station. They all believed the waypoint was at McMurdo Station, but thought that a route to that point would take them down the Sound with Erebus to the left.
Last edited by ampan; 20th Jun 2016 at 20:26.