The varied responses here , in my view, confirm what I am saying. Varied aircraft take varied techniques.....that in itself is thinking first....even if it is well before the actual emergency. In a Robbie....I fully agree the second best thing you can do is dump the collective immediately upon hearing any unusual sound....the best being leaving it on the bottom and not get airborne in the thing at all. I have flown single and twin engine low inertia machines as well as medium and large twin engine machines. I remain steadfast in my view that blindly acting to cope with an emergency (assuming one even gets the standard....vanilla type failure) is fraught with peril. Control of the aircraft is paramount...correctly assessing the exact nature of the malfunction is the secondary issue.....performing the correct procedure is the third function to be performed.
Single engine machines have their own set of failures that require an "immediate" response.....tandem rotor designs have a different set....each aircraft is different...systems are different....that is why in my view.....doing sometime quickly for pure form and not out of necessity is exactly the wrong thing to do. The anal retentive....spew forth whole procedures by rote method is exactly the wrong method to me.....that only gets you into trouble. What happens if the failure is not quite the standard failure.....how do you apply the etched in stone checklist?
Would you want to get wrapped up in rattling off the checklist...and all the while continue flying away from a landing site if you had an engine fire light come on.....or would you rather set up for a quick landing.....and perform only the minimum actions needed to cope with the emergency? If on final approach just above minimums on an ILS....do you get involved with the emegency procedure or merely continue the approach and deal with the problem on the ground? If you are in a VFR pattern at the airfield on downwind and an engine flames out.....do you really have to do much in the way of a checklist drill prior to landing the aircraft?
I can think of a laundry list of situations where doing nothing besides flying the aircraft is the exact right thing to do.....and ignoring the checklist has no effect upon the outcome. Switches unmoved....are incorrect switches unmoved as well. What you do not do...you cannot screw up. Get in a hurry....get excited....get your priorities wrong and you set yourself up for a real problem.