the descent speed of helicopters was very slow compared of real helicopters ! when you are at 0 km/h or at 180km/h the downspeed was very slow.
EDIT : I use a joystick to play heli, but i see if i decrease my throttle on joy,the descent was slow and if i press on Z (collective lower)the descent accelarate but i set the the collective lower axe on throttle command on my joystick (down of course. It's the same for the rise, if i press Q + throttle at max the rise accelerate. It's not really cool to play with joystick if i must use a keyboard too.