Until someone posted it I hadn't thought the gov switch might be in a different position on some birds. All of ours are recessed on the end of the collective as muffin indicated...
Of course the reason the robbie received a gov in the first place was pilot innatention to RPM during flight. Was a simple fix to perform. I'm one who flew one a couple of times without one back then, but then had to give up the training due to lack of funds.
There really is no DANGER of flying the heli with it off at all, and all those who flew it prior to the gov being introduced would agree with me on that one, you just have to manage that RPM.
Irlandés,
Certainly you have apoint on 100% and moving it, however if you do not jat it at 100%, with frictions on it is safe to do, only takes a minute or so. The reduction to 75% RPM for the mag checks, according to RHC itself was more for noise reduction to those around you than the issue of possibly moving the cyclic at 100%. Since our operations are on our own ramp area, we still do it at 100%.