They were not 'forced' to fly an 'un roadworthy' vehicle. The chances of the aircraft suffering some strange malfunction, that cannot be determined in any investigation, at the critical moment when they were putting themselves in a dangerous situation is infinitesimal. They shouldn’t have been in that position at that speed, end of argument. The fact that they did caused the crash. Argue all you like about the level of culpability and how they should be judged, the simple fact is that they were responsible for the safe conduct of the flight and the safety of all on board. In the context of SH heli ops these were not unusual or difficult conditions, they had the option of descending to remain vmc, slowing down, turning away to follow the shoreline or beach or even land the thing. We have all done it, there are no excuses.