Pilots are trained to use the collective and cyclic controls to auto rotate the blades to create uplift when power is lost. It really slows the descent rate.
Pops auto rotated in each of the 4 times he got shot down in Vietnam, and had the transmission scatter on one in Rucker or Benning. He said the latter was the worst but they were only about a hundred feet off the ground. He noted that when the rotor just stops the aerodynamics approach that of bricks...
Yes, but if you enter Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC) and have no training, you will more than likely crash shortly after entry and the ability to auto will become moot. This Kobe crash looks and sounds like the S-76 in NYC who crashed on the rooftop LZ after a vertigo experience only with more deaths and less control. If you have a link that claims there was a loss of power on that fine helo I would like to see it, looks like bad pilotage headwork here.