It was said that in his final flight, he for whatever reason lost control of the plane and despite his frantic efforts was unable to stabilize the aircraft and crashed. Always imagined he dies listening to the screams of his wife and her sister. Question to pilots: If during that crisis had he engaged the automatic pilot, would the aircraft had stabilized thus allowing him to regain his bearings and control?
Even a complex autopilot with artificial intellegence (if there is such a thing) probably would not have saved him if he was already inverted and approaching redline.
The Piper he was flying certainly didn’t have an autopilot that would control the power setting. He wasn’t ready for what he got himself into, imo.