For the record, that's a -40-ism that carried over to the fleet squadrons and eventually to -41. The Bravo's actual hoist altitude was 80', the Romeos is 70' (as was the F/H, I believe). There's specific reasons why 40' isn't a great place to be, though it's used to save time when doing a hoist rodeo.
(Being a former shitter dude, I'm guessing the -60's AFCS had more computing power than the two hamsters we had running around in the 53E). Was there anything more than RadAlt hold and Attirude hold? I guess I'm asking if there were precision hover hold capabilities on the -60 that you flew.
Mind you my last flight was a little over a year ago, so IKE and the others will probably know the details better than I, but...
The current crop of Navy -60s has a 4-axis autopilot that can do both airspeed and attitude hold, as well as both RADALT and BARALT hold. They also have a coupler function that's based off of GPS position, so they can hold them self in a hover over the water (while allowing for any needed drift due to wind/current). The coupler also can execute a pre-programed approach profile from any altitude down to whatever altitude you set, which is used at night over water when doing SAR or dipping. The Romeo also has an additional coupler function that, when engaged, tends the cable for the dipping sonar so that it remains "perfectly" vertical (which is actually kind of impressive when you think about it). When not dipping, there's an additional function in the back that allows the crewman to adjust the helo from his station +/- 10 knots around the coupled position. This is called "CREW HOVER."
CREW HOVER can also be used to both screw with and/or terrorize Midshipmen when giving FAM flights.