Originally Posted by
gulliBell
The things available to save them were:
1. planning,
2. outside visual reference, and
3. aircraft systems.
Planning didn't work because it's a certainty none of the four crew saw the 282' spot height at BLKMO that was marked on their chart. And if there was a note about it written in the supporting text of the chart - which there should have been - they didn't see that either.
That leaves them to the mercy of outside visual reference, and aircraft systems to save them. It's reasonably certain they didn't see the white flash of the lighthouse, likely because nobody was looking forward outside despite being on a visual segment. If the weather was that low that they couldn't see ahead of them they shouldn't have been on a visual segment.
So now they are down to the mercy of aircraft systems to save them. The radar should have given them ample warning of land directly ahead. It's inexplicable to me how the radar didn't save them. The other aircraft system available to save them was the FLIR, and that, via rear crew advisory, gave them 14 seconds notice of the rock ahead of them. The searchlight might have been useful to them, I suspect it wasn't on...if I'm flying around low level at night I like to have the big light on. Maybe there were operational reasons it wasn't on, I don't know.
"It's explicable to me how the radar didn't save them." That's my read - and I did the same stuff with 212's, 76's, 61's and 214ST's for many years.