[Jared Hartzell]

This rotorway video released in 2015 shows an engine failure from 500 ft resulting in two broken ribs, but the pilot recovered well!

[Orv Neisingh]

That crash should never have happened. The pilot had many options for a safe landing including a paved road right next to the ditch that he landed in. I am glad that he survived but perhaps with a little more auto practice/training he would not have crashed. During my 40 year Rotorway career I have gone down in a real autoroation a total of 19 times due to engine/mechanical/electrical failures and fortunately each time the helicopter landed upright with little or no damage to the landing gear or other components. It is very important to practice your autorotations so that you are comfortable with them and the flare sequence at the bottom. If you fly your Rotorway enough hours you will eventually be making a real autorotation to the ground. Many of the failures that I experienced were from early Exec and Scorpion issues that have been addressed and fixed over the years so those issues no longer exist on most of the helicopters out there. My website lists quite a few of the failures that resulted in to-the-ground autos. Jared has graciously copied the web site here on this forum with all of it's content so check it out if you like.