> He told her he believed that air traffic control wanted them to turn left
This is an interesting sentence. In a very generous interpretation, the pilot (if she had survived) might claim that she wasn't directed to turn, just that the instructor believed ATC wanted her to turn, and thus she still needed to evaluate the situation and decide what to do. In other words, she might claim she didn’t defy an order, because being told an instructor "believes" something is different than being directed to do it.
Very possible. That's kind of the point of my comment - like you I'm curious what actual words were said and whether they are normal protocol for a training exercise, and at what point does the trainer abandon the exercise and just go "you're about to crash!" either out of urgency or panic?
This is an interesting sentence. In a very generous interpretation, the pilot (if she had survived) might claim that she wasn't directed to turn, just that the instructor believed ATC wanted her to turn, and thus she still needed to evaluate the situation and decide what to do. In other words, she might claim she didn’t defy an order, because being told an instructor "believes" something is different than being directed to do it.