I have spent too much time in little aircraft flying in the bush. I had to have an operation to remove all the impacted PenAir seat cushion I sucked up my you-know-what over the years. We have to wait for the report, of course, but I'm here to tell you some of these outfits don't follow the rules all the time. Once I flew all the way from Atka to Dutch at 250' and then, landed in a complete white out in Margaret Bay. I didn't even know we were landing until we touched down - all by GPS. Three weeks later that plane, pilot and a marine pilot from Homer were lost in Makushin Bay, all they found was a seat cushion -true story. 

BUT, even the great ones meet untoward circumstances. Tommy Madsen, for example, a guy I flew with and would have chosen to fly with over any other. 

Condolences to all who are affected.