We've all pushed on in bad weather and been caught out - fortunately for most an abort and steep climb, plus clean underwear, gets our little pink bodies out of the poo.
At the end of the day, these guys were below SALT, IMC and hit terra firma. Schoolboy error or could they not climb for some reason? Whatever the answer it's been killing us aircrew since some wag decided to try and fly like the birds.
Nobody can dispute that they should not have been in that situation, the question is whether they had a choice? If the answer is that there was no other option then they cannot be found negligent. If they could have done something else then maybe they were? I've seen the SAR helicopter crawl through a Blizzard, landing every 50m or so then clearing ahead the next 50m before moving on. From what I remember, the Chinook hit the slope at a fair rate of knots so the guys were obviously happy with where they were - or can't a helo hover these days?
We all make mistakes, maybe this was one?