ORIGINAL: flyX
mmm how do you think a heli gose into forward flight ?
By tilting it's lift vector.
This is one reason helis are relatively unaffected by local winds. The lift vector of the rotors gets "angled" to transform a part of it into a motion vector.
The heli itself doesn't CARE if this is forward, reverse or sideways, as it can tilt the plane in any direction the pilot chooses.