no middle ground has been reached yet again
and it will continue
framer until some new evidence surfaces from either the pro Mahon camp or the pro Chippendale camp.
I see this impasse resulting from the following:
At the time of this accident, Human Factors and Crew Resource Management training was in it's infancy.
Air New Zealand, Chippendale and the NZ Government went very hard at playing the "pilot error" card. This resulted in the inevitable and anticipated reaction from ALPANZ. The public were alerted to document shredding, subjected to allusive/vague interviews by Morrie Davis and Robert Muldoon and the final humiliation to both, the revelation of a route change, by the navigation department, taking the aircraft directly over Erebus without informing the crew.
Kiwis, like Aussies, don't like being deceived especially by governments. Public backlash was swift and savage against Air NZ and Muldoon's government.
Enter Muldoon's olive branch. An independent royal Commission of Inquiry, Justice Peter Mahon residing. The government did not like the Mahon findings. Enter the UK Privy Council court of Appeal. Public saw it for what it was and again, public backlash.
There was never a definitive conclusion to this tragedy. Mahon supporters believe he got it right, Air NZ/ Government thought they got it right.
Who will come up with any new evidence to disprove the Mahon/Chippendale arguments? I don't know, but I do know
until this happens, we shall all be back here again 4 to 5 years debating the same old,same old.