(locked controls, HYD OFF, wind conditions, etc...)
Please tell us poor amateurs how you do this on helicopters with more than one hydraulic system?
I can fully understand why in some scenarios such as extreme climate or remote sites, the risk of leaving the controls whilst disembarking pax is less than the problems caused by a stranded heli (but in many cases I suspect it's used as an excuse to get home to the pub quicker) but if leaving pax there anyway it would be difficult to say one's life was in danger in many cases.
I used to have a video of a NZ pilot who left his AS350 burning and turning at idle and totally unmanned for twenty minutes. He disembarked his passengers, carried their bags off the airfield and escorted them through a busy public car park, leaving the access gate unlocked and unguarded. As we were on the nearest row of the car park I moved my car containing my kids some distance away. He eventually re-appeared in a casual fashion, got back in, whacked the engine up to fly and immediately lifted off. He moved very rapidly left and almost collided with another helicopter hover taxying behind him. He "quick stopped" so harshly the tail of his Squirrel almost hit the ground.
An international airport is hardly a remote region and at the time I possibly did say something along the lines of slightly doubting his professionalism.