Well, pick the bones out of this one. Incredibly lucky people.
So, having smacked into the ground (CFIT) hard enough to do that amount of damage you opt to fly away from the hover to the nearest airport? During the pre-flight briefing did it not seem very probable that IMC would be encountered and an IMC/IFR flight should have been planned?
I'm a dog lover, but wasn't this flawed from the start.
Is 'flight in inappropriate conditions' actually flight in IMC?