TC,
TC Yes I'm serious - a TR drive failure in the hover is potentially survivable.... IF you act pretty darn quickly. If its the middle of the night, you have been flying for 2 hours, and you have not been pre-warned by any warning lights etc, then the chances are you are going to take a couple of seconds whilst your brain goes "What T.. F..!!".
If you were hovering at the time, you could be spinning like a top after 2 seconds, and even with the engines off you would be lucky to get control back before you hit the ground unless you started very high.
On the simulator I work in (although it is a different type) following a TRDS failure in flight, if the pilot lets the speed reduce sufficiently that the nose departs to the right, then I think I am right in saying that once in 6 years have I seen anyone recover the situation sufficiently not to crash.
The airflow is disrupted so much as the airframe spins, that it is impossible to get sufficient control to get the nose down and get airspeed on, and it pitches and rolls as it spins. Never fun.