IO540,
What I meant was that-
I'm by no means in any position to judge whether or not this incident was due to pilot error, i.e. continuing on when a diversion/route change would have been the prudent thing to do (which is what I was summing up as "press-on-itis").
Indeed, since it would be very wrong for me to assume that this was the case (given my levels of experience, limited info and so on) the only reason I talked about press-on-itis was to point this out whilst I said that this was a sobering thought for a newly qualified PPL, I wasn't necessarily assuming that this was the cause.
Anyway, I thought "press-on-itis" meant "to continue your flight regardless of other factors that may have a detrimental effect on your flight, due to the overriding desire not to accept changes to your plan"? Surely avoiding that situation due to pressure is worthwhile?