Good example of "How Not To Fly A Helicopter"
Guys, we must remember that SWP and VRS can be two separate things. Nick stresses this over and over. In my opinion, this one was absolutely (lack of) power-settling and not VRS. Yes, we see him start a vertical descent, but almost immediately he gets the horn so we know the rpm was dropping. Why? Most certainly because the engine fell off the power curve and could not maintain RRPM given the collective pitch demand no matter how far open the throttle was (and apparently it was opened all the way).
I suspect that if the poor, overworked 540 in that machine had more power, he would have been able to maintain his RRPM and salvage what was obviously an ill-conceived and executed manuever. (Or maybe it would have progressed into VRS anyway...who knows?)
And I also agree with whoever said that the R-44 pilot was lucky that he performed such a stunt at a low altitude. If he'd had another couple of hundred feet I'm sure he would've gotten the rotor to stall and the resulting rate of descent would've been much higher (and probably fatal). Lucky, lucky pilot. Bad pilot, but lucky pilot.
Finally, in the after-crash footage it appears that the tailboom is broken. In crash sequences, when a main rotor blade strikes the tailboom, the helicopter often rotates before coming to rest. Sadly, do not ask me how I know this. So the way he was heading when he first got into trouble is really no guarantee that the ship will end up on that same heading after the crash.