LowNslow
I think you have hit the nail on the head.
I spent over three thousand hours on one single I liked to fly sitting behind the controls or involved with the maintenance. In that time I only had two issues with the engine. In fact both of those issues were not strictly engine related. One was entirely due to an error made by the maintenance company which manifested itself on the very first flight after they had got their spanners involved. The second issue related to the fuel injection system and while in theory could have resulted in an engine failure would probably have only done so if all the warning signs had been ignored. The route of that problem was also probably down to poor engineering practise.
However despite the evident reliability and my insistence on scrupulous maintenance there was always that irrational nagging doubt that the best place to be wasn’t over a cold windswept expanse of sea.
Irrational, certainly, but, it is a bit like spiders, you can tell someone that this particular one isnt poisonous and wont bite, but they still wont hold it! I think that is why all other factors aside if you have one engine, you would prefer to have two, and if you have got two, there is no substitute for three and if you have three .. .. ..