Tourist
Been a while since I was in that arena, but yes, vortex ring is the other term I couldn't remember. I thought though that "recirculation" as you call it would be the same thing, causes such as steep descent, downwind approach, etc etc.
Recovery, nose down a little, try to run forward out of it, Oh sh... there's a wall in front of me! Very feasible.
Of course, as always, there's other things that could have the same end result.