There is something odd going on here:
ShyTorque: "from around 10,000 feet " "before we finally hit the ground with the VSI pegged hard on the bottom stop"
and
SimonK: "6000' at night for an incipient VRS demo." "we lost 4500' through the full situation, we pitched extreme nose down as we entered at 800' rod and we rolled 180 degrees."
and
Democritus (I think): '5000ft lost unable to get out of the condition' with a test pilot
It seems something is going on because these stories don't square with the many people who do fully developed VR demonstration regularly, without any big deal.
Is it possible that there are helicopters with these terrible characteristics?
If so we need to find out.
Can anyone shed some light on it?