Cowboy operators cannot be the authors of their own demise?
It is clear from what information we have so far that there were serious issues with the aircraft and the operation in general. It may turn out that the final straw was a piloting error, however if the operation was professional, it is unlikely that this accident would have happened.
If there is one thing in NZ aviation that really annoys me, it is the general reluctance to call a spade a spade. We saw it with the Iroquois crash near Pukerua Bay, the clown that hit a van with his Cessna while doing a beat-up, the Seneca that smashed into Mt Tauhara, the Fouga that speared in near Thames - to name but a very, very few. Everyone goes into denial mode and refuses to call it what it really is - a pilot or operator screwing up. The regulator is as bad at this as anyone.
Well, I'm over it - every time I read of an accident like this, and the lack of professionalism that emerges, I'm more than happy to conclude what is bleedingly obvious to anyone with half a brain. The eventual report will only confirm what most of us figured out a year earlier.
In this case, we have a classic "Swiss cheese" scenario.
Paperwork and box ticking should ensure checks are done and recorded but it is no substitute for know-how and nouse.
I'm afraid there isn't a (competent) airline on the planet that would agree with that. We have SOPs, forms and checklists to ensure that NOBODY relies solely on "know-how and nouse". Fine attributes they may be, but they are by no means the whole story. Unfortunately, GA in this country is somewhat the other way... there's an awful lot of "she'll be right" going on. And now you see the results.