I don’t want to speculate on what happened. Whatever happened, it’s one more excuse for insurance companies to limit insurance policies on key personnel to corporations and partnerships such that they cannot fly in single engine and piston planes. Yet another reason flying is so unattractive as an activity and turbines keep taking over while new piston planes become rare and more expensive to make.
We need mandates to improve safety on new aircraft. I hate government interference, but we can’t get rid of it, and the status quo is letting the existing manufacturers build 50 year old designs that new entrants cannot compete with on price. Thus no one can get decent volume.