Logical question and exactly the same I was asking myself.
Plenty of altitude to gradually gain some airspeed without having to tuck the Nose and bring on a very high rate of descent.
Not knowing how effective the streamlining effect is on a Mil-8....it is hard to pass judgement on what happened. It might be they just do not have enough Tail Fin to make that a real choice.
The Parachute hanging off the Tail Rotor would actually have been an asset in that effort however as it would create a lot of drag while it was attached to the Tail Rotor.
We used Drag Chutes (generally Pilot Chutes from Personnel Reserve Chutes) combined with a Swivel and short piece of line to act as a Stabilizing device when carrying AH-1's as Underslung Loads for the Chinook.....otherwise the things would just spin like Tops or oscillate wildly as they were very unstable loads.