Walter
I'm not going to comment on the whole of your post as I have a life to lead too. However,
the relevance of the handling pilot’s HSI course selector being on 035 (mag) is self evident.
No it's not! He may have simply forgotten to set the bug, or decided that setting the bug prior to turning onto a new heading just a few degrees from the one he was on (and for which he would need less than 10 degrees of bank) was unnecessary.
Remind me again how many times you've piloted a large military helicopter
