While a very new US Army pilot...in a land far-a-way....bummed a ride to H-3 Heliport in Saigon...sat in the front seat. Normal flight to H-3 with one stop in Di An for fuel....then to H-3. Arrived at H-3 to the hover....brief discussion about where to park...still at a hover....I point left ...the pilot looked left...and the aircraft turned right. Me being quick witted assumed the guy was doing a clearing turn or something. As the nose passed what had been the original 12 o'clock position we continued to turn right but at an ever increasing rate or rotation. The first turn felt almost normal in rate but did speed up as it progressed. As the nose passed the 12 o'clock position for the second time....and the rate of rotation was becoming interesting....being really quick witted...I asked the pilot what he was doing. As the nose passed the 12 o'clock position for the third time in a blurring eyeballs against my Aviator Ray-Bans.....again being quick witted I ascertained the pedals were full left, the world was still spinning left, and that my now deaf and dumb pilot.....was not reacting in as correct a fashion as I desired.
I asked him politely, in my slow measured southern drawl, to reduce throttle.....sounded kinda like an excited Geordie SgtMajor calling drill commands....."Chopthethrottleforchrissakesyouidiotwhatareyou tryingtodokilluschopthethrottlechopthethrottlepleasechopthet hrottleplease!
In desparation, fearing this guy was going to be like my Commanding Officer trying to decide what kind of marks to give me on my annual evaluation, and that I had other more pressing business to attend to.....I politely without saying anything to him...snapped the throttle off from my side. Not that I was aggressive with it...but the leather covering on the throttle came off in my hand as I recall with weird clarity.....and the rotation immediately slowed to an almost sedate pace....the world was only partially blurred. We landed with a good thump, sounds of paperwork being generated, and the aircraft took a decided list to port and settled by the stern. I opened my door, stepped up to the ground and tipped my hat to the pilot and headed for Saigon to visit the Christian Serviceman's Reading Center for a Kool Aid and cookies.
It is amazing how quickly the rotation slows or stops with the reduction of torque in a loss of thrust situation.