Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: May 9, 2025
The aircraft had thus encountered, at a fateful coincidence in time, the insidious and unidentifiable terrain deception of a classic whiteout situation. They had encountered that type of visual illusion which makes rising white plateaux appear perfectly flat. This freak of polar weather is known and feared by every polar flier.
I do not believe that they were ever aware, until they read the chief inspector's report, of the type of 'whiteout' which occurs in clear air, in calm conditions, and which creates this visual illusion which I have previously described and which is, without doubt, the most dangerous of all polar weather phenomena."
The Commissioner was of the opinion that until the last moment the pilots believed they were flying in clear air; that they were deceived by a whiteout situation; and that it was understandable that they flew on at 2000 and then 1500 feet. Mr. As I attempted to clarify last time the pilot has descended to 2000 ft and evidently is unable to see anything ahead.
I do not believe that they were ever aware, until they read the chief inspector's report of the type of 'whiteout' which occurs in clear air, in calm conditions, and which creates this visual illusion which I have previously described and which is, without doubt, the most dangerous of all polar weather phenomena.
But there was no evidence that Air New Zealand had ever received an intimation from the United States authorities to that effect or that the navigation section had reason to think they would so object. The qualification seems to reflect that position. Whiteout
It would seem that if those at airline headquarters were unaware of the deceptive dangers of the whiteout phenomenon they could not have deliberately ignored it as a factor that should be taken into account in favour of the aircrew. Instructions of the Chief Executive
The position of the sun at the time of impact was directly behind the aircraft, being in a position approximately to the true north of the mountain and shining at an inclination of 34°. The co-existence of these factors produced without doubt the classic 'whiteout' phenomenon which occurs from time to time in polar regions, or in any terrain totally covered by snow.
We have underlined some of it, indicating that in this particular part of his report the Commissioner seems to accept that when they first heard of the crash the management of the airline must have been unaware of the true nature and danger of a whiteout. If so, they would have had no reason to suppose that the pilot would have elected to fly at such a low level without real visibility.
That is an aspect which could well have been strongly relied on if, when giving evidence before the Commissioner, they had realised that they were being accused of trying to cover up the cause of the crash from an early stage: The term 'whiteout' has more than one meaning as being descriptive of weather conditions in snow-covered terrain.
For aviation purposes it is often described as the cause of the visual difficulty which occurs when a aircraft is attempting to land during a snowstorm. As already stated, the United States Navy maintains a special whiteout landing area situated to the south of its normal landing strips near McMurdo Station.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking