Every aeroplane has a place in the industry.
The Piper PA31 series has proved itself many times throughout it's long history. You can't go on a witch hunt against all of the series because of this. It's akin to killing all the great whites after a human attack. I enjoyed my time in them, I also always had a what if up my sleeve and a plan c.
Flying aeroplanes is about risk management. Perhaps there are things Andrew could have done better given hindsight, perhaps the engineers could have tried harder, perhaps the operator could have spent the extra money on that non essential maintenance, perhaps, perhaps. You could go around in circles all day. In aviation as a Pilot in these aeroplanes you need to make a decision straight away in a situation like this and hope it's the right one. You don't have the luxury of sitting on your hands with guaranteed performance and a second crew member to run the PILOT model. There is no what if, you run with it and make it work. You're either drinking beers that night, or your mates are.
I'm looking forward to the report so I can understand what happened. It's a bloody shame these aeroplanes don't have FDRs and CVRs as the feeling I get from some of these accident reports on GA aeroplanes are based on what the investigator would like to assume happened, to keep everything tidy in their own mind.
It's pretty easy to draw conclusions from the initial facts we have, we also know a PA31 won't maintain 7000 feet on one engine so a drift down was assured. We also know you are going to be working pretty hard in one of these aeroplanes if you have an EFATO prior to the 4th takeoff segment. Lightly loaded it should have got it's wits approaching around 3000 feet to a very manageable sink rate.
Let's also remember that that second engine on a piston twin is not a get out of jail free card. (it's usually sold to the general public as such) It gives you options and most of the time extends your glide to somewhere suitable to land. You can't expect something from it that it was not designed for and then be upset when the inevitable happens. Such is the nature of the beast.
The report will be interesting reading.