Long ago and far away in my very distant youth, our military crewmen (who first qualified as maintenance engineers) were forbidden to touch the flying controls, except to keep the aircraft straight and level in non-autopilot machines.
They were trained as winch operators, air gunners and basic map readers and when hovering beside cliffs, over ships and into clearings or lifting underslung loads, our lives were in their hands.
Naturally we wanted them to be able to take control and get us to somewhere safe if ever we became incapacitated, so we ensured that they could hover and land as well as we could. Our generals were probably aware of this, but chose not to ask questions.
I know of two incidents where our disobedience saved lives. In one memorable case a bullet hit the cyclic grip and shattered the pilots right hand, causing him to pass out from shock. Although the co-pilot controls had been removed to accommodate the ammo magazine box, the crewman leant across the pilot's shoulder and grabbed the cyclic and collective.
After a while the pilot regained consciousness and was able to operate the rudder pedals while the crewman performed a running landing back at the military airfield.
I rest my case, Your Honour.