I am sure that I will be shot down in saying this, but at the end of the day, a ATPL pilot in charge of a charter flight from an island in the Pacific to a remote island in the Pacific, an island with known variable weather conditions decided to leave with less than full tanks. He could easily have had full fuel capacity within his weight limits. This extra fuel may not have been enough to a diversion from Norfolk Island, but it would of given him the luxury of diverting at a later stage in the flight or a least holding overhead Norfolk Island for a couple of hours or more, flying some more approaches, and possibly getting in. Everything from the point of leaving without full tanks is in some ways pointless as he had removed his safety margin before he left. This is easy for me to say, in my flying career I always left will full tanks, I was not weight limited in the flying I was doing, but as it turned out there were many times I was thankful that I had a few extra gallons and the knowledge of my exact endurance. The PIC was no doubt between a rock and a hard place, but the extra fuel in his tip tanks may have possibly saved all this discussion, and his career. It is easy to be wise after the event.