I am not military, but deal with SAR on a reglar basis.
Given that they people who fly these missions are the most experienced aircrew in their field, and probably know their aircraft as well as their engineers do, I would say it's judgement call that only they can make, and in doing so they take into account all the factors available to them at the time.
This would not of course, include the judgemental inclusion of hindsight to which you allude to in referring to the casualty as "non critical".
Witch hunt my arse!
