Aviation Division had thought it had always been."

That last suggestion was not put to any of the navigation witnesses at
the Inquiry. It implies that although those in the navigation section
believed the airline had been using a computer track to the west of Ross
Island for the past year because it was the better route they
nevertheless suddenly became uneasy lest knowledge of the matter would
now reach the Civil Aviation Division which had not given its official
blessing to the change. The idea apparently is that because the airline
might receive an official rebuke the officers in the section made their
own independent decision that the route must once again be directed back
over Mt. Erebus.

There was no evidence at all before the Royal Commission that the
approval of the Civil Aviation Division was needed for a change from the
direct Cape Hallett/McMurdo route. An affidavit in support of the
present application for review indicates that if the matter had been
raised at the Inquiry members of the navigation section would have
wished to present evidence from the Civil Aviation Division that "a
change of route from the direct route to the McMurdo Sound route would
not have required CAD approval and therefore could have been lawfully
accomplished by the airline without reference to CAD". That situation
may have been anticipated by the Commissioner himself for by reference
to the false waypoint and the earlier consequential movement of the
computer flight track down McMurdo Sound to the west he said that
although approval of the route by the Civil Aviation Division should
have been obtained it "would have been automatic" (paragraph 150).

In paragraph 255 (f) of the Report the explanation from all four members
of the navigation section is described in the following way: