Terrible accident
Speaking as a member of the public and not a pilot or aviation expert.
From reading through this thread its evident that there seems to be a real issue in the private aviation sector of being asked or forced to do things which are potentially unsafe. This is very worrying and should not be allowed within the industry wether the passenger owns the aircraft or not.
A pilot should not be in fear of loosing employment or suffering any type of discrimination as a result of refusing to carry out his/her duties on the grounds of safety. The pilots word should be final, anybody rich enough to own and operate aircraft for private or commercial purposes should be educated and sensible enough to listen to an experienced pilot and not apply pressure to break the law or risk life and limb to get to the destination. It seems to me that lorry bus and coach drivers are afforded more protection and monitored more closely by the authorities and considering the the potential dangers involved in your proffesion that in itself is ridiculous.
We do not know what has caused this accident and I think there is likely to be a number of contributing factors as there always seems to be with things like this. I have seen G-LBAL in the air on approach to Gillingham Hall a number of times but I didnt know who it belonged to until I heard about its crash on the news. It was a marvelous looking machine. The crash site is enroute to a place I visit fairly often and I can only describe seeing the wreckage over the weekend as a harrowing experience. I feel very sad for all involved, i can not imagine how the families of those onboard could be feeling and I offer my sincerest of condolences.
Where I live about 9 miles from the crash site visibility was incredibly poor last thursday evening. I await with interest to find out the cause of this accident. Had the aircraft impacted the mc donalds restaraunt or petrol station at the adjacent Gillingham Services the death toll could have been much higher.
Its such a tragic loss of life and I if nothing else something will be learned in order to prevent similar accidents in the future.