Draco
Having flown at MT Cook etc I know what you mean about getting out and leaving the A/C running, whats the big deal?
As long as the as the collective is down and engines at ground idle there seems to be no problem- in fact the pilot needs to be out of the aircraft I lost count of the times I had to rush to stop a pax running around the rear towards the tail rotor and to stop pax falling into creavases etc and keep them off sloping ice, believe me with excited passengers running around you need to be out of the aircraft. And in all the years tourist operators have flown in the South Island not one aircraft has made its own arrangements and gone home without its pilot or pax, and when pax have gone into main or tail rotor blades where was the pilot? - sitting in the drivers seat.