Airplane pilots are lucky. Their approach options are relatively few compared to ours. I suppose a book could and probably should be written on all of the different types and kinds of approaches that helicopters make. But such a book would be necessarily incomplete because there are uncountable variations.
The beauty of...and the trouble with...helicopters is that we take them to strange places that airplanes cannot go. Land into the wind? Yes, whenever possible, although it is not always. Simply abandon a landing because it might involve operating in a small corner of the flight envelope? Hey, all of life involves some risk. Good helicopter pilots are very flexible in their thinking.
Not to brag, but I have made over 50,000 landings in helicopters...maybe 60,000 depending on whether I use five or six landings per hour. Let's say five. Whatever. It's a lot of landings. And virtually every one of those helicopter landings was improvised; I made them up as I went along.
Unlike airplanes, every helicopter approach is an improvisation. We tailor the speed, angle and azimuth to the specific situation. Our "finals" may or may not be straight and there is no "standard" approach angle to use when landing off-airport. This need to improvise seems lost on a lot of pilots who cannot break free of regimented thinking and flying.
Recently, I flew with a new turbine owner, who's only other practical flight time was in Robbies. Aside from flying his approaches at Robbie speeds (i.e. too fast), he was a pretty good stick and I felt comfortable with him flying the turbine. ...Except for one thing.
The LZ at his property was tight but not unsafely so. He'd been in there before, so I let him show me his procedure. Instead of landing right at his house, we made a very nice approach to a huge nearby field. I was impressed but puzzled. To transition to his "front yard" parking spot, we would have had to hover over a large stand of 75 foot trees that blocked our path. When it was apparent that he intended to do just that, I called foul. I asked, "Do you mean to tell me that you're going to hover over those trees?" He did indeed. "Not with me in the ship," I said.
We took off and circled around and I taught him a real-life steep approach, not the theoretical ones we make at the airport during training. High-recon, low-recon, then set it up into the wind, aiming for that spot there and fly down to it. It was kind of a one-way-in sort of place, and the wind gods were smiling on us that day. There were good areas all around us to plop into if the engine quit, and it worked out perfectly with very little pitch-pull at the bottom. At least, worked for me.
No, we did not maintain 60 knots all the way down. Yes, we were probably in the shaded area of the H-V chart for a portion of the approach. Oh well. Better than a 100' OGE hover over friggin' trees with a nearly-vertical descent on the other side.
Clearly, this guy was more comfortable hovering at 100' over trees than making a steep approach. My approach worked on that day because the wind was favorable for the best path in. Tomorrow it may not be. Or now that I'm gone, he may simply go back to doing it his way, or whichever way he's most comfortable with. Which is fine I guess. He's a fully rated Commercial pilot and has to live (or die) with the consequences of his actions.
The more conservative among us would question his need to keep his helicopter at home. They would suggest that he simply park it at the nearest airport. But you know what? People like having their helicopters where they live, when they can. Is it unreasonably dangerous for this guy to operate out of his house, which is way out in the country with no close neighbors? I don't think so.
If we wanted to fly from airports all the time, we'd fly airplanes. We like and fly helicopters because of their versatility. But along with that characteristic, it is imperative that we learn to properly take advantage of it...and do it safely. To do that, we must know how to tailor each approach to the existing conditions. It's not something that you can learn from an internet website. Some things only come through experience.