"Curiouser and curiouser," said Alice.
Crab: Well, frankly, no, I don't think so. And also: illegal modification? What was that? Who modified the aircraft?
If the FAA flinches at a duct-taped camera, then one just puts camera on a shoulder-holster-mount about 8" long projecting out a little through doorway; the PC straps under seatbelt like any other cargo, running on its own batteries, and the trackball, if there is one, is strapped to pilot's wrist like any large chronometer.
Pilot distraction/error because of the camera? (Gnash, gnash, why does it have to be me, Lord, explaining these things . . .) Sure, some of us have trouble multitasking, but if Flight Instruction is legal, how can Anything Else be cause for concern?
Witness the whole diverse rotary spectrum of ways to die spectacularly: long-line, mustering, Boatpix, pipeline patrol, medevac at night in unprepared LZ's, crop spraying, etc etc etc maybe a camera fits with all those others, maybe not . . . whatever, surely one doubts that there would be much market for a 10-hr course in "Photographic Mission Safety Concerns" or the like.
[The REALLY insane track, by the way, is my insurance company, who informed me that they would not insure me for photography if anyone else, like a photographer, was in the helicopter, but that I was welcome to do photography--with no increase in premium!--providing the other seat was empty. Idiots!]