Originally Posted by
Phone Wind
...the fact still remains that flight in non-IFR helicopters with non-instrument rated crews is illegal in Kenya and in hostile terrain like that at night, the chance of surviving a major failure is minimal
The major failure was the pilot decision to take-off under the flight rules and conditions described, not whether the helicopter had a technical malfunction of some sort after take-off.
If the flight rules did not permit night operations, and the pilot complied with that requirement, they would all still be alive. That is the simple truth of the matter.