So sad. I’ve only watched one video so far, with her dad on approach to Gatlinburg (I think).
I agree with a lot of the speculation and observation so far. Lots of links in the chain.
But what stood out to me is something I’ll assign an acronym to: TMS. Stands for Too Many Screens.
I’m far from a Luddite, and an iPad may be a valuable tool in the cockpit when used properly. But in this case it seemed a hindrance, distracting her from basic aircraft control. It may be the case whereby a moving map is a huge boon to positional awareness, a second moving map is nice as a backup, but add in a third and I think any pilot would need a lot of discipline to stay focused on his or her main job, which is fly the damn plane.
If she had been my student, we’d have ditched the iPad and focused on properly programming and utilizing what I think was the Garmin 430 she kept futzing with. As a contributing factor is the rather klutzy user interface on the 430 that takes a lot of time to get and maintain proficiency with. Subsequent flights would focus on the autopilot, and so on, before integrating all the elements into a whole, but stressing at all times a basic instrument scan and basic attitude instrument flying. In short, go back to building blocks and get rid of distractions.