"Any sane pilot who is loosing height in the hover will select nozzles to the rear to try and get out of there without crashing".
I'd like someone to explain this concept more fully to me.
If you're losing height due to loss of thrust because of an engine problem, what effect will rotating the nozzles aft do?
If you're losing lift because the nozzles are already transitioning because of a failure, what effect would moving the lever have?
If you assume the loss of partial thrust, what height would you need to be at to achieve sufficient speed/lift in conventional flight to ovecome the loss and stabilise in height?
Are these the sort of questions engineers ask you on the ground afterwards?