Tragic and hard. But on the other points raised i think rather than always pass blame we sometimes need to be accountable for our decisons without blaming someone else..
Very true Extralight. Aviation, more than most other pursuits calls for a high degree of self responsibility. No ATC is ever going to send me anywhere perilous. EVER
surely part of the problem then. Where I fly every PPL student flight has a flight plan filed. Teach it properly during the training.
Flight notification is part of the RPL and PPL curriculum, this is not the demographic I am referring to. There is a considerable older pilot population who learnt back in the days of Full SAR.