Bat-Off,
Yep, they are a tough crowd to please, clearly. Whatever you have been taught to conceptualise what is going on doesn't really matter so long as it works. If you want to think of pockets of air, then fine. Not my choice of analogy, but there we go.
It is possible to move backwards during an autorotation. I did this in my commercial checkride, when the examiner cut the throttle right over a good spot, with a brisk headwind.
I was 1500-2000, so simply entered the auto and flared. My flare assisted in the RPM recovery, until I had a sufficient rate of decent to keep the autorotative flow through the disc. (Maybe this is the 'pocket of air' you describe. I prefer simply to think of the autorotative flow up through the disc as keeping you in auto. To get that you need to be falling.)
Then using a little aft cyclic, I was able to drift backwards (the headwind helping) until the spot came back into the window.
During this (any) backwards flight, it is important to remember that excessive speeds will cause instability due to weather-vaning, and could possibly put execessive loads on the structures (tail boom) which the aircraft is not designed for. So this is not an aggressive backwards flight.
Also, it wasn't completly backwards. It was 'sideways/backwards' so that I could keep my intended spot in view.
It is absolutely important to keep an eye on altitude, since airspeed recovery takes a couple of hundred feet longer (depending on the aircraft). My limit was 600'. I must be recovering airspeed by 600'.
Also the sight picture of the spot is slightly different, since you must account for this extra 200' drop to get the required airspeed.
After that, everything is just the same as a normal autorotation.
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This is not the zero-airspeed / constant attitude autorotations which the others are talking about. It's just an extra method to get you out of trouble. If you have not been demonstrated one, ask someone to show you. It's another string to your bow which could save your life.
cl12pv2s