Pilots are constantly under pressure, from owners, operations and customers, and the statistics show that the outcomes are not always favorable, but often by using skills of judgement and aircraft handling, many marginal flights are completed without incident.
It is VERY difficult to resist those pressures, and as I used to work in Ireland, they were a daily issue. During the Ryder Cup I was flying a Jet-Ranger, and due to poor weather, I could not make the scheduled pick-up near Killarney in the south-west. I was requested to fly low-level,following the main-road, in poor vis and low cloud conditions, towards Killarney from Dublin, to look out for the clients in a red SUV, when I saw them (I seem to recall being told that they would flash their headlamps...), land, pick them up and return to The K-Club.
I declined the offer and after a polite discussion with ops, resigned on the spot as I was not going to risk being put in that same situation again. I have never worked as a commercial pilot since (not by choice by-the-way), and we wonder why rookies and experienced pilots all over the world push-on when maybe the better option is to either set-down, or not depart in the first place...