Gray Area,
I think you are missing the point....we are discussing the 350, not the Bell two bladed head. Not withstanding that, there are things that I will not do in various helicopters for various reasons. In any Sikorsky I or Bell helicopter I have flown....the hydraulics always kept up with the control inputs...take from that what you will. In the MBB products....except for some roll coupling...the hydraulics keep up with control inputs. In the Boeing-Vertol products I have flown...the hydraulics keep up with control inputs....it is only on the 350 we hear of this "Jacques Stall" event.
Yes, in the Bell two bladed heads...if you show your butt you can snap the mast off at the top....yes, if you enter negative "g" you can get into mast bumping and snap the head off...or lose control. Yes, in really aggressive maneuvering you can get yourself into a pickle in very high speed, high "g" pullups following a gun-run in a Cobra. Yes, you can over stress the Mast on the Bell 204-212 series if you pull too much power at too high an airspeed....but in all of these events...the hydaulics work with full control authority.
Your question "why would anyone want to operate near Vne at max weight?" Everyone of us who fly these things for a living will do that at some time. As long as the power utilized remains within the set parameters....we usually go for whatever speed we can get on long distance flights....Vne is the limit.....not near Vne....otherwise the Vne would be lower than it is.
There is no denying the fact....the controls should not enter "Jacques Stall" and remove the control of the aircraft away from the pilot. It is poor engineering at best in my humble opinion.