Anyway, as we came back to our airfield I remember the pilot turning into a crosswind and saying "man, that's sucking a lot of power!".
To add a little more input to this thread, if he was on final approach and keeping the nose pointing straight, i.e skids in line with direction of travel, and if the crosswind was from the right he would be applying left pedal to keep the nose straight and that could be why he commented on the 'power'.
On the question of power reduction thru ETL, some pilots let the increased efficiency allow the aircraft to climb on that basis with the same collective setting, some reduce collective to maintain height and some push the cyclic forward but maintain collective setting and maintain height. The latter 2 'methods' would keep you out of the HV curve but the former method may be of use in a 'confined area'.
Also for consideration is that the Tail rotor experiences it own ETL and coupled with the vertical fin becoming aerodynamically advantageous, this yaws the nose left allowing reduction in left pedal application and hence torque.
Ah what the heck, look out the front, keep it straight and do whatever it takes......
The last comment, being a bit flippant will, of course, not apply to those operating at High DA and AUW's.....
