The "Move the Cyclic Aft" concept works in certain situations, does not apply in others, is more important sometimes depending upon the type of aircraft being flown, and most importantly depends upon how quickly the Pilot responds to the Loss of Engine Power moving the rotor blades.
So as is so typical of "Cook Book" Piloting....anyone who clings to a singular approach or method to flying helicopters is just being flat assed stupid.....and in some circles....dangerously ignorant and arrogant.
The extreme display of the use of the "Move it Aft" concept is high speed, low level flight, where a fixed collective or even increased collective and an aggressive cyclic climb maneuver sets one up for a standard autorotation after a several hundred foot gain in height above the ground. The other end of the the spectrum is when doing an OGE Hover or very low forward speed autorotation....moving the Cyclic Aft isn't going to do a thing for you. The area in between the two is where there is so much room to be creative while entering the autorotation. How you manipulate the controls is directly dependent to the situation including whether you have a low inertia or high inertia rotor system. One benefits more from the Cyclic movement than does the other.
DB,
Is it they let the pitch attitude decrease or does the Sim demand an Aft movement on the Cyclic? What Airspeed was the failure initiated? How long did it take for the Pilot to respond?
I suggest you tell us more about the situation yourself.....as you were there it should be easy for you to do. What was the scenario....how were the Pilot's briefed....what were their backgrounds and experience....language differences?
More importantly....were any of them British Trained? How many had CAA ATPL's?