I've got to jump on the bandwagon with Nick here. We have a lot of technology readily available at a cost which is justified by the reduction in risk it provides. Yes, we can and have gotten by without it, but how close to the edge do we routinely walk without ever realizing it?
I've been in nearly identical situations a couple of times. In my case we had a bit of a scare, but, no blood - no foul. However, it wouldn't have taken much to put us over the edge. Then you'd have been reading about me and my copilot instead.
You establish limits and procedures, you check the weather, you pay diligent attention to what you're doing, and still it happens. It happens because at some point you exceed the limit of what you can manage with the available resources. And until you get the task load back to a managable level you're relying on luck for a happy outcome.
There's a bunch of stuff out there that will tremendously improve the margin of safety. Of course, the appropriate technology differs with the application. For marginal weather in the GoM it may be four-axis autopilots. For EMS in the mountains at night maybe it's NVGs. Whatever. But any operator that doesn't take advantage of the appropriate technology, and any customer that doesn't require it of their contractors, is opening themselves up to serious liability. I think you know what's coming next, "If you think the equipment is expensive, just think about the cost of an accident."
-Stan-