I don't know why you think you'd get flak for adding some real-world experiences to the mix - out of interest what was the helicopter type you were flying?
Sounds like you invented the Vuichard technique before he did
It was a AS350 D Crab.
Starting from 100 ASL to 8000 ASL Temps -20 to +25C. Terrain100 ASL to 1500-2000.
Well some folks are going to say that entering VRS in still air and zero rate of descent is impossible.
In discussion years later with a very experienced and well respected test pilot he was surprised to hear of it but thought that it was just amazing that the circumstance was created. The ‘Laser’ keeping the aircraft in a +- 24 inch hover for extended periods and the aircraft being tracked with a theodolite. The chance to operate in the conditions described and stay in VRS for up to 1-2 minutes try various things and observe results was a unique opportunity. He said that they had never even thought of doing it and it would have been a separate test programme during which it would have been difficult to achieve the test parameters.. I agreed totally with him. It was an interesting thing but not worth the candle to spend time to explore. In the end what would have been the benefit of it a except the “Been There Done That” T-shirt.
You always lost the ‘Laser’ dot when it happened so you had to descend back down to ground level so staying in VRS was quick way to get there. I found exiting at a +-45 degree from aircraft heading with a +- 10 degree nose down attitude to gain fwd speed seemed to work best. You could exit by entering autorotation but this involved a considerable height loss. Exiting fully developed VRS with power applied and fwd speed was the most easy but when you are looking at VS anywhere from -1500 to -2500 it is going to take TIME and ALTITUDE to return to straight and level flight. As I stated before aside from the sloppy controls the aircraft never entered any unusual attitude or did anything scary. It seemed happy in the state it was in, no RPM, Torque or heading changes.