Big scare story

I had an engine out once in a R22 on my way back from Hagerstown to
Frederick, MD in a round about kind of a way. I full autoed it onto
10+ inches of snow on someones farm near Camp David. My first real
emergency, and I somehow executed a smooth flare that my CFI would
have been really proud of. I never did get it that good w/ the CFI
onboard, and there was never a full down auto. I didn't perceive it
as an emergency at the time, neither did my passenger. He thought
that the first couple of seconds of the auto was a little startling,
but did reallize it was an auto. He thought that it supposed to be
quiet when you land and only wondered why we landed in the field. I
explained to him that the engine went out on its own. He too didn't
reallize the danger at the time. I checked out the engine, started it
up again and it ran smoothly. I concluded that it was carburator
icing. Instead of hiking a couple of miles to the farm house in deep
snow to call the FBO, We took the easy way out. We flew the chopper
back to Frederick, MD. I told Bill at Advanced Helicopters about the
engine out and that I may have oversped the rotors doing the auto. He
said he would have it looked at.


In retrospect, I should have walked to the farm house and had someone
at Advanced Heli with more experience come get the chopper. I was
real stupid to have flown it again that day. Anything could have been
wrong with it. The bearings could have been shot from the overspeed.
I could have been back in the air when it failed.


Bryan "The Monk" Chaisone