Appeared to be dumping fuel prior to attempting pick-up, perhaps indicating they were very close to their limits? Maybe uneven ground effect, or loss of tail rotor effectivness. Then again, I know v little about such contraptions - and should know better than to speculate. Glad to hear that all are now expected to recover, even the guy who was thrown out and then had his machine roll over him - ouch!
Beags, the probe struck once it all started going pear-shaped methinks. Not sure what the TV networks could do, apart from banning live pics. Actually I think some do now have 5 sec delay, after a nasty cop/robber chase which ended in a rather gruesome suicide on live TV a year or so ago.