Then there is those things known as Regulations such as US FAA Part 135. (My bolding of Text)
My reading of the Regulation and in consideration of the route, weather, and terrain tells me they were not in compliance with the Regulations.
It gets very dark in Nevada at night if there is an overcast and thus an absence of terrestrial lighting
The actual visibility available probably will not allow sufficient light reference of any kind adequate to control the aircraft without reference to flight instrumentation.
Absent a mechanical failure this accident will probably be het another IIMC uncontrolled flight into terrain accident.
My view is the concept of calling it a VFR into IFR accident misses the reality of these tragedies....the "Rules" have nothing to do with the accident happening as it is the loss of control that gets you.
Had you obeyed those awful Regulations (The Rules) t hen you would not have found yourself in that situation that leads to your sudden demise and that of your passengers.
Ask longtime EMS pilots what tricks and techniques they use that have kept them alive and healthy and you will see most of them have altered routing to avoid those dark holes when possible. (If you comply with the FAR's....you have to do that to be legal)
If they are not able to stay over areas with enough surface lighting from homes, businesses, highways.....they treat the flight as an Instrument trip and are equipped, trained, and proficient (not just legally "current" but up to speed) and fly high as possible using Radar Flight Following assistance from ATC.
That reminds us there is the perfect world of Rules and Regulations but there is also reality where perfect compliance might not be achievable and stay in business.
But that is a topic for another discussion rather than in this thread.
Most of the Regulations might as well be written in blood as they came about due to events just like this one.....but unless the industry as a whole adopts the proper safety culture the toll in lives just keeps on growing.
Helicopter pilots are not very bright it seems as we (I include myself in that number) keep using using the same old tired ways of coming to an ugly end or at least try to after making very poor decisions.
Every one of these accidents provide us with Lessons Learned....or some would say.....Lessons Not Learned.
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§ 135.205 VFR: Visibility requirements.
(a) No person may operate an airplane under VFR in uncontrolled airspace when the ceiling is less than 1,000 feet unless flight visibility is at least 2 miles.
(b) No person may operate a helicopter under VFR in Class G airspace at an altitude of 1,200 feet or less above the surface or within the lateral boundaries of the surface areas of Class B, Class C, Class D, or Class E airspace designated for an airport unless the visibility is at least—
(1) During the day— 1⁄2 mile; or
(2) At night—1 mile.
[Doc. No. 16097,
43 FR 46783, Oct. 10, 1978, as amended by Amdt. 135–41,
56 FR 65663, Dec. 17, 1991]
§ 135.207 VFR: Helicopter surface reference requirements.
No person may operate a helicopter under VFR unless that person has visual surface reference or, at night, visual surface light reference, sufficient to safely control the helicopter.