My statement about the hydraulics is based on reviewing a whole lot of AS 350 accidents where control was clearly a problem (many where the NTSB absolutely didn't consider that), as well as reviewing a massive stack of Service Difficulty Reports that relate to hydraulic actuator problems.
In one of the accidents I was involved with a hydraulic actuator clearly failed the acceptance criteria, yet the NTSB said there was no issue.
If I were an accident investigator for a national authority, I'd have the actuators checked thoroughly on every AS350 accident unless it was clearly some other issue.