Height/Velocity Curve
Otherwise known as the Dead Man's Curve, this is a chart for helicopters that compares speeds against heights to give you an idea of where not to be if you don't want to kill yourself if an engine fails, that is, you don't want to be at high altitudes with low speeds, or low ones with high speeds, so the best place to be is in the gap between the shaded areas:

In other words, the graph shows combinations of speed and height

that the average pilot would find it impossible to make a safe emergency landing from. For more of a chance, a one-second delay is factored in for minimum skill levels.
A couple of points to note first of all: one is that you should check to see if the chart is in the Limitations or Performance section of the Flight Manual (the BK 117's moves to the limitations section once you go into high density seating). If it's in the latter, its requirements are recommended, not mandatory. Another is that it is not necessarily valid for approaches, being calculated for level flight conditions (see below). Some helicopters, like the TwinStar, sometimes don't have one at all. It's importance, therefore is for takeoff, although in some circumstances, it is more dangerous to try to avoid the curve, especially if you might only be in it for a few seconds (as when getting out of a confined area, for example).
Anyhow, the vertical shaded area in the diagram above is called the low speed section, which is actually split in two parts at the knee of the curve, although it's never shown (the knee is the furthest point at which the curve extends). The lower portion is for takeoff power (no intervention), and the upper portion is for level flight (cruise power, hand not necessarily near the collective, so one second allowed for intervention time), and the whole area will expand with Density Altitude. On approach, you have your hands on the controls and are using less than cruise power, so the same figures don't work.
The other shaded area is called the high speed section, and the clear area between them is the takeoff corridor. Takeoffs and performance calculations should definitely take account of the curve, which is constructed at maximum weight, with no wind at a density altitude of at least 7,000 feet. Those of lesser quality must be verified (that is, actually flown) by the relevant Authority.

Going For a Job

Inexperienced pilots have a similar problem to people in many other walks of life - they cannot get a job because they don't have the experience, and they cannot get the experience without a job. When looking for work with hardly any hours and a licence which is barely dry, you are in a similar position to asking your father for the keys to his brand new Mercedes so you can go to a party. You have to ask yourself what characteristics you might have that would make your father do such a potentially stupid thing. Or that might make passengers get into a machine with you at the controls, for that matter.