Fly911 - I completely agree. A decent autopilot offloads the pilot to allow him the extra capacity to make decisions.
Single pilot IFR is difficult enough when you plan it - when it is suddenly forced upon you it can be overwhelming.
A decent autopilot will have a go-around button which will put wings level and capture a sensible climbing speed. If the pilot in this incident had had such a facility (and known how to use it), we wouldn't be reading about it.
Tistisnot - the CRM is a good idea but financial/operational pressures have a way of making people ignore the sort of lessons that are learned on those courses.