Crab,
With regard to increasing the mass flow by increasing the collective pitch, you probably could achieve vertical translational lift. The problem would be how much power you have available and whether you could actually get a clean vertical flow into the disk. Of course you would have the drag of the fuselage working against you. It probably does happen but is hidden by other forces acting against you. Think picking yourself up by your shoelaces as we do now put pulling a bit harder!