megan #1040:
Can I first say how much I admire your youthful curiosity. The VMC issue has two parts: (1) Was he actually VMC? (2) Did he believe he was VMC?
As to (1), the answer is obviously 'no', given what happened. As to (2), the photos, I accept, show that the aircraft was flying in clear air and was not flying in cloud. But that assumes that Captain Collins knew nothing of sector whiteout. Not true: 5 years at Wigram, a recent visit to operation Deep Freeze and, most importantly: "Very hard to tell the difference between the cloud and the ice." Fifteen minutes later he's between the cloud and the ice declaring that he's VMC. The only word for that is "pretending".