Some interesting questions raised.
I always wondered about flying over mountains with the maybe just the very tippy tops showing....not rounded grassy tops but real sharp, jagged, granite like things....that even Mountain Goats avoid due to poor footing.
One beautiful Moon Lit night....VFR on Top in a Cessna Caravan....routing across an area in Washington State known locally as "The Alps"....a few craggy tops poking up out of the murk that ran right down to about a 1000 feet MSL....with elevations ranging from 4,000 to 9,000 or so. The destination was clear beneath an overcast so had no expectations of problems getting home.
Smack dab in the middle of the "The Alps", while star gazing and admiring a big bright Moon....and how it caused the granite rock below us to twinkle....the sudden realization that I was bore sighting a single PT-6 engine ruined a very pretty night.
Had that engine failed....it would have been fatal....and the quality of life from the instant it quit till we quit Earth would not have been very pleasant.
Helicopters are very much like that Caravan....One Main Gearbox.....and if it decides to experience a serious problem that requires an immediate landing....Things like Sea State, undercasts that go to the surface, and some other interesting situations should give us pause for thought.
We can always warmly note the Authority's definition of "Very Remote" or "Extremely Remote" however they label the concept that such things only rarely happen thus our risk of a sudden demise is not something to get concerned about.
So why should we get fussed about such issues.
The Cougar thing off Newfoundland was just a statistical fluke....as have been all the North Sea 225 Swim Calls.
What we do see....is the difference in the outcomes when Sea State is within the aircraft's certification level.
If a Rig Crew has to work over now and then....is it really that big a deal?