Nick sez:
That guy ran out of power, and pulled the rpm down. That caused his sliding pedal turn. When he hits the ground, he is falling at about one fuselage height every 2 seconds, thus about 500 fpm. If you overpitch in an OGE hover, that is precisely what happens.
Huh! So that explains it. I knew it had to be something prosaic and not VRS. Thanks for clearing that up.
Although...I would have thought that a lightly-loaded SH-3 at near seal level would have been capable of an OGE hover and some maneuvering without plummetting out of the sky like a sack of potatoes (and notice I did say "po-tay-toes" and not "po-tah-toes"). I also would've thought that a helicopter designed for shipboard ops would be capable of touching down at a mere 500 fpm RoD, but evidently not. I guess they don't have much reserve power or inherent strength, but I've never flown anything that big and mighty.