Another thing I noticed looking at the track was it appeared to be a a non standard approach, the join made on the "base" leg was more like a 45 degree join for final, not that this caused the accident but I wonder if joining on a definitive part of the circuit either downwind or base with the standard 90 degree turns would afford a better and more familiar judgement of altitudes and speeds needed in case a dead stick landing had to be made, also check list sequencing based on pattern location me be thrown off with non standard pattern entry and approach.
Just a thought about entering the pattern in general and not criticizing the pilots in this accidents airmanship in any way.