terminus nos
Your assertion that texting when single pilot in any aircraft at any time is worthy of a Darwin award is utterly ridiculous - and unfairly damning of Pete Barnes. Pete may have made fatal mistakes here, but texting was not one.
His texts were made when he was VMC on top, no doubt A/P coupled. They were brief and pertinent too - this wasn't just idle banter. The ability to text can actuually be a safety aid - sometimes by informing people on the ground of certain things stress can be reduced and flights made more efficient.
Please explain why sending a brief text is any more distracting than, for example, re-programming a route in the GPS, looking at a chart or approach plate and setting up an ILS with frequency selection with navaid identification etc. All quite accepted distractions from simply looking out of the screen or at the panel monitoring instruments and any warnings - the serious of which tend to be audio anyway in the A109.