Xeque:
I have said this on this forum before but I will say it again. It is not the well-rehearsed engine fire on take-off that kills people but the unrehearsed, bizarre happening that is NOT in the checklist that really tests our mettle.
I am quite sure that a lot of us out here have survived such events by using common sense and very basic skills. I really don't think that young pilots today are any less skilled than we were in the "old days".
After all, the young men who fought in the last two Gulf Wars and the Falklands campaign did every bit as well as their predecessors did.
In my own particular case, I didn't have an explosion in the back end but the whole arse end froze-up and I had to fly on the elevator trim wheel which could only control to 700 fpm up or down at best. This saga went on for 13 hours and 30 minutes. Any other problem such as an engine failure would have made the situation even more interesting.
However, a successful outcome resulted (half way through the next day) so it was no big deal and it would certainly never have been discussed as ever having been a big deal in those days.
So, rest assured that there are loads of pilots out there who could tell similar horror stories and be confident in the fact that the young guys nowadays are just as inventive now than they ever were.