Kangia:
Thanks---I cannot take credit, I was flying--The pictures were taken by our aviation safety officer Bob Barnes---who is also an amateur photographer.
I've always wondered this but is there a procedure they follow if the engine quits in the Long Ranger with the two guys roping down?
There are different procedures depending upon the severity of the problem. According to the "book", the spotter can signal the rappellers to speed up---OR, if the engine quits, he can cut their ropes.
We discuss the issues often and I have come to the conclusion that if the engine quits, I am going to nose over slightly to gain some speed, (depending upon height---we rappell anywhere up to 250 feet), the guys on the line will go down with the aircraft, which initially will be descending quite slowly. They will not hit the ground that hard. We train typically in open areas first, then putting them into tight areas. If they are rappelling to a tight area, they will be drug into a tree and can cut themselves free from the rope quickly, and then climb down.
You bring up a good discussion---some of us, by the very nature of the work we do, will rarely have a good spot to auto into. We also do not have the luxury of flying above 500 feet all the time---in fact I rarely fly above 300 feet. There was a manual produced by the US military many years ago called "How to crash a helicopter". It discussed how to crash and survive in those situations where you had no choice. Here is a link for the document.
How to crash a helicopter