WildWilly,
Do not second guess yourself. All ended well so you made the correct choice.
As for the learning experience:
Is the double V failure something that may have been caught on the preflight?
Was this the first flight of the day or had the aircraft been flying previously?
Did the student preflight by himself or under supervision?
Regardless, All walked away to fly another day. Possibly we can learn from this and avoid the same situation.
I had a friend and fellow flight instructor performing a photo mission with a 300C. He had a power failure and was able to put it down in the back yard of a residential area. No serious injuries and no property damage (other than helicopter). The bushing from the throttle linkage cable pulled through and helicopter went to flight idle. One other item I now try to look at during inspections.
