The Day the Donkey Died

If a helicopter pilot had to nominate one major mechanical component to suffer the inconvenience of terminal failure in flight, chances are they’d pick the engine. Ask a pilot who flies fixed- and rotary-winged machines which mount would afford the best chance of surviving an engine failure, odds are they would choose the helicopter.

Hopefully these are choices we’ll never have to make, especially as there is a common misconception that if a helicopter’s engine quits it carries on flying about as well as a mallet. Not so. If it were so, these words would not be on this page, because one perfect spring afternoon the Lycoming 360 engine powering the Schweizer 269 I was flying stopped, giving me a golden opportunity to put all my engine failure drills into practice....