Even flying 2-3 hour legs on a triangle for 6-9 hours a day doesn't seem like you would really be learning much. I understand that you have to have the magic number to get that job but how does that really look in your book? The logic of an arbitrary number just goes over my head. I know you have to base experience on something, but did I really learn more by flying from Tennessee to Florida in 4 hours in a 152 or in 1.5 hours in a complex aircraft? Between two complex aircraft am I learning more in a NA powered plane at 12,000 ft or in a turbo at 18,000 ft?
Hours earned smashing bugs in a 152 just to increase your hours don't seem all that valuable, no matter how necessary.
Sorry about dragging this off topic.
Sad to see anyone die like this. I would hope that I would have climbed, fessed up, kept my head in the plane on the panel flying IFR and let them vector me to safety, if possible.
May she rest in peace.