Bell Ringer and Crab: I disagree with you. The folks I've met all see the helicopter ride as the risk it is. None I've met treat it as totally safe. Nearly every load wants it to be as "dangerous" and as "exciting" as it can be. The video posted is about as extreme example of that as you will find, which, again, is completely unsurprising given that it occurred at a skydiving drop zone. Everybody in America wants their ride to be the Red Bull BO105. Certainly there are exceptions, as there are in all things, but I believe you misjudge the American public. Perhaps it is a cultural thing.
Not a cultural thing, more a human thing - we like excitement and the buzz of adrenaline gives us a kick and we like to bet on the odds of not dying because we can convince ourselves that it won't happen to us - right up until it does.
If the 222 had speared in, killing or injuring all on board,but a second was available to carry on the rides, how long would the queue have been then?
It's like speeding or other minor lawbreaking - all great fun until you get caught even though you had convinced yourself you wouldn't.
Show people the real consequences of the choices they make - not absolute consequences but possible ones - and you would see a change in some people's (though not all) behaviour.
If, heaven forbid, a skydiver piles in due to target fixation or a chute malfunction - do the rest of the club immediately get in the air to freefall themselves or do some of them actually contemplate their own vulnerability to the whim of fate?
We used to get excellent human factors presentations from a USAF Colonel who told a story of a friend - a super-good jet jock Squadron Commander, combat ace and multi formation leader who suddenly had an epiphany whilst taxying out to lead a 4-ship. His subconscious finally got the message through to his conscious that what he was doing was dangerous (ie military flying) - something his conscious had suppressed for many years, a failure to acknowledge reality - he taxiied back in and shut down, never to fly again.
We can kid ourselves that our risky behaviour won't come back and bite us in the ass but we are completely at the mercy of fate.
Everyone has their own appetite for risk and it can be competitive (risky shift) in groups of people like pilots, skydivers, racing drivers etc but the ones who survive those, and other similar, professions often do rationalise and minimise, where possible, those risks but still need a big dose of luck.
Taking your child, not strapped in, on an ultra low level thrill-seeking flight just seems like tempting fate to me.
Ignoring the fact that many rules and regulations (the nanny state) are to protect people from making the same stupid mistakes over and over again isn't freedom of choice - it is stupidity.