"officials who programmed the aircraft to fly directly at Mount Erebus and omitted to tell the aircrew" be a stupid statement?
Round and round and round we go.
No, the "officials" never programmed anything below MSA, it was the decision to descend below MSA against the laid down descent procedure that caused the crash, and advice from on the ground re the weather conditions at McMurdo, that were well below that required for the authorised descent procedure, advice that Ross Island was completely covered in cloud, there was a recorded conversation between Collins and Met people on the ground that passed all this information to him, but the person that passed the info was never called to give evidence, why?: because it would stuff up Mahon and Vette trying to find a reason to absolve the crew from "making any error"perhaps?
It is a fact that the AINS was not cleared as a Nav aid below MSA, and what were they doing relying on that when they had to go down to 1,500ft? if it was VMC at 2,000ft why did they have to go down to 1,500ft?.
Why was not the Lat and Long, that was being updated continuously, on this magical navigational system not used to positively give a fix before the descent was commenced?
It would appear that the radar, in mapping mode, that previous crew said showed up Ross Island very well was not used,WHY.?
If it was VMC with a min vis of 20km, why did Mulgrew say 4 minutes before impact, he would advise people where they were when he knew himself?