Sounds like they scared themselves fartless - due to poor execution of a valley turn and the belief that the automatics will save you.
And course you have never got yourself into a tricky SAR op have you? Did the RAF SAR Force, of which you were a trainer, never have anything like this?
I know you, and I know the pilot involved, and I know which one I’d like to fly with. So please, this is a forum for professional helicopter pilots not willy waving children. Let’s leave the insults aside.