Wessex in NI going into a field on goggles, my Browning 9mm fell out of my (legal) shoulder holster and jammed between the seat and the collective. Between 500 and 100 feet not detected but when chap in the right hand seat started to pull collective at the bottom, total restriction apparent. Naturally in accordance with our training the handling pilot calmly announced, 'Captain to crew, control restriction'. His unfortunate speech impediment made it sound more like, 'F@cking hell, the collective's stuck!'. I slapped my left tit with my right hand to discover a missing gat but managed to locate the bowden cable and gave it a jolly good tug. Luckily it freed and we were going to hit the ground anyway so it was just a question of how hard. I'm sure we pulled more than the cheeky 14,000 but who was looking at the torque gauge at that point?
Got away with it and reported it to the boss. No more James Bond shoulder holsters after that. I suppose that even with approved and properly used kit, loose articles can and will occur.