Although often done it, i confess allways feeling uncomfortable over 1500' agl on the helicopter controls.
Took part on several "high altitude" (at least for helicopters
) missions, but things don't went better from trip to trip. Allways stiff and nervous.
I don't know why. My most suitable explanation, the most safety feeling for me while flying helicopters is the possibility at least to 80% to be on ground within a very short time, also in the mountains or at night. I'm not an off-shore pilot.
On some flights it was necessary to autorotate from > or = 12,000ft. Parachute jumping, you know without doors and restricted airspeed, a/c without much fuel and no other passengers. Means nearly 8-10min on autorotation. Cutted the engine(s) to idle, but there was no greater descent than max. 1500ft/min possible inside the recommended speed and RPM range. Don't liked it!!! Sailing down and down and down and down...