jayteeto,
I am sure that we have all used the ADF to listen to the radio. In my case it was often at the request of the Lady in the armchair down the back; to get the latest news bulletins. If, however, we required the ADF for navigation purposes she was so informed.
In the case of the Chinook accident I would suggest that it would have been more appropriate to have the ADF tuned to a suitable Airfield beacon, to which the aircraft could have homed to seek a radar letdown, in the highly likely event of the aircaft being forced to climb by the forecast poor weather. An appropriate subscale setting on the Captains altimeter would not have gone amiss either.
FJJP
It didn't work:-
Walter is still here!!