Originally Posted by
gulliBell
Because it was said the rifle of a front seat passenger, who was engaged in feral hog shooting, knocked the switch which turned off the magnetos which caused the engine to stop which resulted in the helicopter pancaking.
But we know this is not true! Firstly you can’t bump a rotary switch, by 120 degrees, across 3 solid positions.
And secondly, because then - as you say - the engine would stop. The whole issue is that the engine worked just fine with the engine switch in the off position.
As much as it suits our narrative that somehow miraculously the switch came right during flight and did what it was supposed to do (ie kill engine), this might be jumping to conclusions.
There could be any number of other reasons why an engine fails after takeoff, even with magnetos working.