AutopilotEngage.....
confounding and extaneous variables
? Maybe so, but I cant imagine what they might be, after all, would you turn INTO the high terrain at night in bad wx? If he was over Raglan at 1850, then he didnt leave till probably 1800, its not that far from NE. And if his departure was delayed, thats another point he could have broken the accident chain. He had at least an hour to go, in darkness and into deteriorating wx, and it was very windy (in fact, there was a Tornado just south of NP that night) so along with poor wx, it was probably pretty lumpy too. Add all that up, poor viz, lowering cloud base, rain and turb, at night in a C152....he would have had his hands full. And of course, he had to navigate....Im not privy as to whether he had a GPS or VOR onboard, anybody? Why not just track the coast back to Auckland? Can you tell me where you got your wx info? 2500' and average viz? Going thru an unseen rainshower would drop that markedly, lighty windscreens arent very good with rain on them. Im not trying to bag him personally, but highlight the decisions he made, perhaps offer alternates so that young pilots may learn from this accident, and hopefully not repeat it.
I also agree with Luke on the bagging instructors, it wasnt the intructors who put this guy where he was, his own decision making process did that. Im absolutely certain no instructor would have authorised a flight such as this, regardless of experience, wages or anything else.