I'll admit that I don't know the details, but I'll point out that they would not have been so far from land without tankers. If they were closer to a base or ha

I'll admit that I don't know the details, but I'll point out that they would not have been so far from land without tankers. If they were closer to a base or had longer range, a complete navigational failure would be far less of a problem as there are still pilots on board who know roughly where they are and what the heading is and where to find emergency airfields. They can make decisions and come up with a plan to get out of the situation. Perhaps, I'll claim that as the third error in doom predictions. When any real problems do come up, there are intelligent people working the problem.