According to FlightAware this flight was planned at 4500 ft so I presume it was planned VFR. IFR lowest safe is 6,200 ft according to my flight planner. It appears the route flown was overland, close to direct. There are several peaks over 4000ft in the vicinity of a direct route so picking your way around these peaks with even moderate wind must be very challenging. I have no idea of the weather on this flight but I welll remember feeling the commercial pressure I put on myself early on in my flying in anything like marginal conditions. The trouble was that I just didn’t know enough to make informed judgements. Luckily a good boss and a bit of luck saw me through the early years. I’ll leave it to the investigation to comment on the circumstances and the decisions made in relation to this particular flight.