You can tumble the gyros in your inner ear by simply turning your head abruptly to talk to someone else in the cockpit, or by looking down in your lap to read a map. With no backup beyond your own capabilities, the stress factor can overpower the mind. I knew a prosperous doctor who experienced what John probably did, but he survived a wiser, humbled, truly blessed man. The terror of the last several seconds of life for the three souls in that cockpit had to be too horrible to contemplate. My heart bleeds for the families.
Untimely death is always the most tragic of catastrophes.
Untimely, senseless death, self-inflicted by a foolish decision, is an enormous lifetime burden for friends and family who survive. To take innocent loved ones with you borders on unforgivable. A nice guy made a ghastly mistake in judgment and paid for it with his life and the lives of his family. Now John's beatification by a celebrity-crazed press is winding down, but the legal battles have most likely only begun. Look for lawsuits against the instructor, the airplane manufacturer and maybe even between in-laws.