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Heliprops Safety Program
A Critical Decision at the Last Second
It was late January and the morning traffic patrol was more than two hours old as we crossed another busy suburban Detroit freeway on the way back to our home airport. Flying straight and level with an airspeed of 80 knots and 900 feet AGL (above ground level), everything was normal onboard.
Suddenly, there was a strange, loud noise that sounded like someone humming one steady note. It also resonated in the airframe. Instinctively, I looked down at the instrument panel. But before my eyes could even begin to focus on the gauges, the nose of our Jet Ranger yawed to the left. That yaw motion was accompanied by the engine out annunciator panel light and the very loud pulsating tone of the engine out warning horn.
This was it, I thought. The emergency procedure all helicopter pilots study, train for and practice, but hope they will never have to perform for real, just happened. I initiated an immediate entry into autorotation by lowering the collective while putting in lots of right pedal just to get the nose straight. Here we go!
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The History of Helicopter Safety