Was his aircraft so equipped? A brief Google search suggests that autopilot function is a more recent option for the Piper PA-32R.
As I recall, it came out during the post-accident coverage that the aircraft had an autopilot, which would be typical for a complex single like the Saratoga. Personally, I consider a working autopilot mandatory working equipment for flying in that area at night even flying IFR. The issue of a possible lack of a well-defined horizon at night over the water is well-known among pilots in the area off the Cape. It's one of those situations where the flight may be legal for VFR but it's in practical reality an IFR flight. In my experience flying around there, it is all too easy to see how the accident happened; you can get to the point where you really have no visual reference at all, which is apparently what happened with spatial disorientation setting in resulting in a loss of control of the aircraft. It really can be a trap for the unwary, especially with passengers who may be distracting you, which I suspect played a role in all this. Since there was no CVR, we'll never know that for sure, however.
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