Did he have any thoughts as to how the two managed to get that close
to each other in front of the tower?

Very easy! Twice airport controllers have tried to kill me. Once was at Santa
Barbara when I will cleared to depart via runway 33R from the helipads while a
Cessna 414 was on short final to 15L. We both saw each other and took evasive
action and missed by about 200 ft. The other time was this year September 26
at Burbank. I was cleared to depart and "cross both runways". At about 100 -
200 ft somewhere out of the cluter on the radio I heard someone SCREAM
"helicopter right, RIGHT, RIGHT, as most pilots I listen for my call sign, but
I thought "hey that's funny I am a helicopter", then I thought well I guess it
can't hurt to break hard right and dive, which is what I did and the American
Airlines MD 80 flashed by at about 10 feet doing 190 knots. As soon as I saw
the cockpit out of the corner of my eye I leveled the rotors as I was banked 90
degrees, I think this saved my life otherwise the wing would have cliped my
rotors. The American Airlines pilot thought he had hit me.

So you see just because you are talking to the tower does not mean they know
what they are doing. The jet had take off clearnance before I was even on
tower freq and he was from my 7. He thought the controller would tell me to
stay on the north side ...