Cessna 421 missing over Gulf of Mexico, en route from Texas to Florida, 5 aboard

Unfortunately, it appears that this pilot didn't understand or didn't care about the importance of avoiding storms or, at the very least, slowing an aircraft in turbulence. It doesn't take a supercell or a CAT 6 with hail to remove your horizontal stabilizer. I've flown with hundreds od pilots and many thousands of hours and I continue to see pilots not slow the aircraft until something stupid happens. We as pilots can handle the ride.......our aircraft sometimes can't. We don't have all the facts about this accident, but it looks like a typical case of poor judgement and lack of respect of weather, aircraft structural limitations, and, most importantly, peoples lives.

I Concur!

How many hours did the pilot have?

I have 56 hours and would never have messed with that return. Maybe it wasn't the pilot's lack of hours but instead his over-confidence that took him into that weather, if that was in fact the cause of the accident. I'd also be interested to know what weather information he/she consulted on the ground and in the cockpit.