A sad testimony to the flawed US HEMS model
LFZ, I wish there were an answer to this. When the company says that we need 30 flights a month to break even, and you've seen bases close due to lack of flights, it's natural to want to make that flight, if at all possible, especially if it's near the end of the month and your base only has 28 flights so far.
I've seen pilots getting a military pension turning down flights because it's dark out side. Period. And maybe rain forecast for tomorrow. They can be super cautious to the point that they should be doing something else. Then there's the poor slob with a mortgage and three kids relying on that paycheck. He/she really doesn't want that base to close.
Please go back and read my original post. No one is saying that you should take a flight when the weather is below minimums (Your minimums. Not VFR minimums). I've turned down flights that I later felt I should have taken. Then there were flights I accepted that I soon realized I should have turned down. My advice to a pilot with time on his hands, is to review other pilots' mistakes so that you don't turn down flights that you could have accepted, but more importantly that you don't accept flights that you should have turned down.
Believe me, it's great if there's no pressure. But pilots get paid to manage pressure.