almost without exception the pilots whom I have known die in light aircraft have done something remarkably stupid, often despite being warned, sometimes repeatedly. Some of these pilots were wealthy and clever professional men.
What seems to us on the ground after the consequences become obvious, to be remarkably stupid, would not have appeared that way to the person about to do it, otherwise they wouldn't do it. I struggle to compare light aircraft crashes with airline crashes because of the structure, training, and experience required in the latter.
What you say about the pilots being wealthy and clever professional men interests me because I've long suspected a link between business success and poor descision making airborne. I haven't looked into it so I may just be imagining it but I suspect that the same ego/confidence that works well for someone in the business world can cause trouble when the cloud base is lowering and the terrain is rising.