To suffice having no auto pilot functions, I usually ascend to an extremely high altitude to perform any of the previously mentioned simple tasks in order to recover from any anomalies. This tends to display a significant loss of forward momentum and looks very awkward for a helicopter's flight characteristics.
Granted, map viewing should be the copilot's job, but most players do not want to perform the low-level job of a copilot, or cannot simply perform this task as they're simply oblivious of the required task! (There's also a current bug of copilots causing rotor damage.)
Also, Altis inhibits some lengthy flight time to get from one point to another, and being able to quickly study a map's landing way point for safety is desirable, as the way point is usually placed by a player without any concern of surface to air missiles, etc. (ie. Landing way points are usually placed within active area of operations, versus outside.)