Just becoming a bit confused here, but then I saw this really confusing bit.
Tail rotor failures require quite some aero dynamic performance of the tail fin,
Was it a practice T/R failure from the hover;
1) where the drivers started getting disorientated and then moving backwards before touchdown, or
2) was it simulated in forward flight and it developed into a T/R at hover after the forward A/S had washed off to come back to number 1, or
3) do they fly backwards and then simulate a T/R failure to drop to the ground before rotating into the forward A/S configuration?
In any of these events how can the quote above have significance when all airspeed is washed off, or nearly so?