What was it that the controller said that was so bad?!? Absolutely, this is a sad accident for all involved but why can't he make a generic observation that -in and of itself- is perfectly valid. By 'no IR' I take it he means either that this aircraft was not certified for IFR or maybe he's making a more general point about trends in aircraft accidents, I don't know. B73, was this aircraft IFR certified? Was it on an IFR flight plan? These are valid questions that the AAIB will have and there's no reason that we shouldn't be asking ourselves these same questions.
Sadly, the combination of night flight and marginal weather continues to claim the lives of novices and experienced SPIFR pilots alike. It's arguably the biggest safety problem we face in our industry. Of course, this accident may prove to have a completely different, mechanical, root cause. But let's face it, weather was a factor even if that turns out to be the case. Surely we can be respectful to those affected while at the same time confront some of the issues that may have played a role in this crash.
This is after all a Rumor Network and we are after all supposed to benefit from the free flow of ideas between ourselves. Let's ask the hard questions.