RE: First autos
Archie is correct about the "dead mans curve". At 10-15', you are at the hardest altitude to do a auto. Try playing with it a 5' and get the correct feel on the collective, then go upstairs. 40-50' is easier then what you've been doing. Like BH said earlier, keep the forward speed up, at about 10' you should pull back and burn off the forward speed, remember when you go nose high the heli is going to want to stop its descent, (just like in a hover, nose high with same collective will cause you to climb) so a little more - collective may be needed. Then you just have to get the nose back down and it's just like the auto you did a few minutes earlier from 5'.