I'm not interested in a dog-fight but rather an admission that there is a problem and how to address it. Perhaps our perceptions of the issue are different; mine results from the international standard that is contained in ICAO Annex 6 Part III, Section II Chapter 2.3.5.1:
2.3.5.1 A flight to be conducted in accordance with VFR shall not be commenced unless current meteorological reports or a combination of current reports and forecasts indicate that the meteorological conditions along the route or that part of the route to be flown or in the intended area of operations under VFR will, at the appropriate time, be such as to render compliance with these rules possible.
I have no problems with the minima you quote - I might perhaps have distinguished between dispatch and in-flight criteria but it is a minor point. My reservations are with the principle that you can plan VFR at times when you have insufficiency knowledge of the en-route weather and, whether the flight can be completed in compliance with the Standard shown above (as evidence by the anecdotal report - and your own admission) - under circumstances where the onshore alternative of precautionary landing is not an option.
The point therefore is whether the criteria for dispatch can be met - or whether it is really an issue for operators in the GOM. It is a matter of Operational Control - i.e. management of safety.
As I have no problem with the minima you quote, clearly I have no problem in choosing to fly VFR when the circumstances permit it. (Well I do have one reservation and that is to do with mixing aircraft in an environment where VFR avoid criteria may be difficult.) I also have reservations about the carriage of VFR fuel if the criterion for dispatch does not meet a reasonable standard (what does the pilot do if encountering weather and being forced into a reversal of track when past the point of no return?). (VFR fuel does work when returning to base with an IFR-capable aircraft under circumstances where the base is clearly VFR.)
Why is it that when faced with opposition to the current system, some pilots immediately revert to the statement:
"Should *every* passenger-carrying helicopter in the GOM be twin-engine, two-pilot, and IFR-capable?
Yes, that would be a solution but not one that is being advocated. I would settle for either a VFR dispatch system (with appropriate operational control) meeting the stated standard, or the use of IFR capable aircraft with the associated protection that comes with ADS-B.
Oh yes, I would also like to see a change to a culture where denial (for any reason) is eliminated, and a move to an acceptable system that reduces the probability of such incidents/accidents.