If you had to WORK you drove a Hiller. If you just wanted to fly passengers or cruise around you used a Bell. As an old U.S. Army instructor I have seen student pilots bounce the old 23D as high as the control tower without sustaining any serious damage. It was just a more rugged machine than the Bell's but it was a little more work to fly. It had one peculiarity that was not to be tested however; settling with power. It is possible to loose adequate control over the control paddles during serious settling with power and thereby loose complete control of the cyclic system. In my case, entering auto-rotation only allowed the blades to flex down and chop off the tail boom resulting in a most serious problem.
