SAS,
You may be right. I do not remember the presentation I saw, but either the 135 or 145 engine controls are routed from the cockpit to the engines via the windshields center frame. This design would be equal to or worse than the S-76 design as the S-76 had contributing significant wear in the locking gates, while routing controls in bird strike areas would be a fundamental design flaw.
The Sultan
Neither in the EC 145 or EC 135 the enginecontrols are routed through the centerframe. But the EC145 has flexballcables for the flightcontrols routed through the windshield centerframe.
skadi