Quote Originally Posted by BDunnell
Not really. That's a bit unfair on accident investigators, who do a very good job in often difficult circumstances. If an official accident report by a recognised authority says it's down to pilot error, that's good enough for me.
There have been several cases of reports by recognised authorities being flawed in the past and too quick to blame pilots, though they are very professional people much does depend on the evidence available. I have seen crash sites with nothing larger than the size of a cigarette packet left of the aircraft or the occupants. So piecing together from that how in particular a light aircraft met its fate is no easy task. It is fair to say that in absence of conflicting evidence what else does one conclude? Unless a proven mechanical or on more modern aircraft software failure occurs, what is left but pilot error or the weather? As pilot in command not hitting things is ones own responsibility, so doing so is a form of pilot error (whatever the weather conditions), unless for some reason the aircraft is uncontrollable, such as due to a mechanical/software failure or pilot incapacitation.

As stated above though these things are not usually due to one single error, it is often a whole chain of mistakes or poor decisions. I think personally there may be issues of rapidly changing visibility and overwhelming pilot workload but this ought to have been picked up in the planning stage of the flight (which would include studying likely weather conditions over the estimated duration of the flight at suitable diversion airfields/heliport etc).

What surprises me more about the whole thing is the amazing knee jerk reaction from the public. Two people died which is tragic. How many people died on the roads in London on the same day or during the same week I wonder, without a word being said?