True re micro climates in Hawaii....The mountains basically collect all the rain on the rainy side.... That said, did you ever experience low ceiling or heavy cloud cover obscuring the tops of the range with winds? Perhaps you know, or we will learn if any other heli tours were active in that area at that time....I don't know if conditions were a factor in a go/no go decision....
Re ELT, I'm not sure what equip. they had aboard, but I'd be surprised if it didn't still have 121.5...In that terrain, I would think you would want some redundancy and not just 406...
I agree and unfortunately I don't think it was reported missing until after 6 right around sunset. So even other operators couldn't really have launched and provided much visual help. Had to wait until daybreak.