In the U.S.
Well, all the variables of the engine failure were fair. 600AGL on downwind pitching for 70kts, pulling a good amount of pitch (maybe about 22in in the R22). I'm not saying the setup or anything was unfair. I think it was all me, but it was odd. I'll try to explain:
He says "simulated engine failure" as he rolls off the throttle, and then in the blink of an eye he was already collective full down, and cyclic back to get the RPM's up. Apparently, I waited so long that the RPM had dropped to 87% and he quickly got my RPM back up and let me finish to a powered recovery.
It happened and ended so fast I don't really know what happened... I was tired and we were on hour 4 of my exam (2hrs ground/oral, 2hrs flight), but damn. I was shocked. I'm not sure if he instinctively recovered when he cut the throttle, or if I was just so out of it that I didn't process it all fast enough. He is a fair guy, and I am a tired guy so I gotta give him the benefit of the doubt that it was fair. I still can't get over how shocked I was that my response was so utterly poor apparently. I mean, if the RRPM dropped to 87%, I dunno how I missed it. I actually wonder if I froze up or what, but I don't FEEL like I did. Sounds stupid right? All I can think is that if I am really this confused about what happened, it was probably right to fail me. Just a bit disappointed in myself. So what are the consequences anyway?