Arm,
I was teaching the Instructor Pilot Course in OH-58's. We had built up skid shoes and most all were done on paved lanes. We were supposed to teach touchdowns with a ground slide of 2 helicopter lengths. Since I was teaching higher time pilots how to be instructors, I used to show them how to do zero ground run autos. After all, if you had to put it down in an unimproved area, such as a plowed field, the last thing you want is ground run.
We did do role reversal, where I acted as a student and deliberately screwed up the manuever. They were taught how to recover. We did standard autos, autos with turns, low level low airspeed autos, low level high airspeed autos, and hovering autos. Not to mention all the other emergency procedures.
My favorite role reversal was when I did hovering autos and rolled the throttle back and pulled in an armload of collective, leaving them 20 ft. in the air counting the blades.
I was fortunate(Lucky) in that I never bent an acft. And yes; plenty of exciting recoveries.
[This message has been edited by GulfPLt (edited 29 May 2001).]