What if he intended to be where he crashed? Not that he intended to crash, but that he intended to be where he wound up dead or alive.
He was in a severe nose down attitude at looow altitude coming out of IMC without any instrument experience, he recovered from that but he should have waited until he was clear headed. Vertigo doesn't just disappear when you can see the ground, see 1222. He was adrenaline fueled and his other senses were overloaded to the point that his primary sense aka sight couldn't correct. Unless he was fuel critical, doubtful but possible, he needed time for the vertigo to pass. Probably did intend to land where he crashed, got 'get-homeitis' and screwed it up. There were no time constraints on him that mattered. He had just survived a critical emergency luckily, one that kills usually. Bad headwork but not the first instance in this flight for him.