Fantome, with due respect.
'Perpetuating the pain of the Collins family' it may be. But what about the pain of the families of those situated in the cabin?
Like it or not, Capt Collins was the Pilot in Command of NZ901. According to ICAO (and every other PIC I've ever been taught by or indeed have met), the PIC is
responsible for ;
Originally Posted by ICAO
..the final authority and responsibility for the operation and safety of the flight
, or
The pilot-in-command of an aircraft shall have final authority as to the disposition of the aircraft while in command.
You takes your dollars, you takes your chances.
There are some undeniably simple facts here. The PIC ignored several tell-tale signs that the aircraft wasn't where he 'thought' (not knew..) it was.
No VHF, TACAN or radar reception inside well defined and promulgated areas of operation (i.e because there's
terrain in the road.)
No visual sighting of ANYTHING familiar, despite the fact that a
mountain taller than Mt Blanc should be within spittles throw away.
Despite the fact that Collins made the executive choice to descend 'VMC'.
I understand your argument. Essentially it's "'they' (ANZ Planing) plugged the wrong coordinates into the INS'.
That 'they' did is beyond question. Regardless, that doesn't alleviate the PIC of his responsibilities.
3 Holer's comments would make me laugh if it wasn't so shattering for the families involved.
"It was all the companies fault, Your Honor. They made me do it."
If that is what the sole survivor Capt Collins had argued, he would have been pilloried.
The crew were the final, largest (and fatal) hole in the Swiss Cheese model. Like it or not.
To argue otherwise simply shows a basic lack of knowledge of any aviation safety systems e.g a Walt.