Jimmy16 - surely the issue about which control does what in a mixed mode autopilot is exactly the key here.
Is it me or is the idea that the cyclic controlling RoD (VS) and the collective controlling IAS utterly counter-intuitive to everything that is taught in basic (and advanced) helicopter training?
Frankly if these guys ended up in a UP operating the aircraft in this configuration at a point of high workload (IMC looking for cloudbreak at minima), I for one am not surprised.