John
I would suggest that from 1000 ft into wind there is no way a 300 will make 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile. Best auto speed is 48 kts which with average weight and temperature and not going for range will give you a rate of descent of around 1600 fpm with auto revs set at around 460 rpm ( 390 to 504 is the limit ). Having had an engine stop I agree with Tim Price. Also if one does a throttle chop in the cruise then you will actually get the rrpm to the bottom red line as one puts the collective down, however any disc loading quickly brings that back. In zero wind from a 60 kts and 1000 ft I guess you are looking at a glide of around 500 m. Go for range with airspeed at around 65 kts you will increase glide by around 75 m, lever up so rrpm down around 400 the you will get another 50 to 75 m from that 1000 ft.
300's are really easy to land from an auto so `i can only assume he tried to stretch the auto and became fixated on getting back to the runway. This may well be the difference in training from Uk to USA. Here in UK i would never do a touch down to the runway always to the grass,( must have done thousands by now to the grass and as yet haven't bent a thing ) where as all US pilots I have flown with / spoken with want to go to the runway.Hope this helps