The answer to this question: yes, but not really.
When an airplane loses its engine, it can glide for miles before having to land. When a helicopter loses its engine, it falls out of the sky and enters something called an "autorotation."
The aerodynamics are way beyond the scope of this post, but suffice it to say that the rotor is being turned by incoming air - like a windmill. In other words, the helicopter is still flying, but not really. It's actually descending in a controlled manner, but descending rather quickly.
The aircraft can still land, but this requires an abrupt "flare" at the bottom of the descent. This "flare" slows the helicopter's descent so it doesn't crash into the ground and speeds up the rotor overhead. If the pilot flares at the correct altitude, he will be able to set the aircraft down without an operable engine.
Watch this video to see how an autorotation is performed. Pay particular attention to the last part of the descent where the pilot "flares" the helicopter to land. Notice how close the tail gets to the ground as well. Any error in judgement could prove to be disastrous, thus requiring the pilot to be spot-on when executing this maneuver.
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