And don't assume the lack of a chip light means everything is OK. A good few years ago the crewman at the rear of my Chinook told me there was a 'funny whine' coming from somewhere in his vicinity (and please no cracks re crewmen - they're all too obvious); if he wasn't happy I wasn't either, and we were also over a large expanse of water, so immediately ran downwind at constant power to the nearest available landing site. No chip lights, the T's and P's were also stable, but the noise from the rear transmission got louder until we could hear it at the front, and ditching was becoming an option had we not been less than 2 mins from landing. On pulling the ECLs back (ie reducing power) after touchdown it was like applying the rotor brake - hard - and when the engineers pulled the mag detector it was like a christmas tree, covered in iron filings and meatier chunks of transmission. Why no Chip Light? - no idea, the plug worked perfectly under test, and god smiled on us.
170 and Wasaloadie are quite correct - keep the power as stable as possible and get on the ground ASAP. Always remember it's better sitting on the ground looking at a broken aircraft than sitting in a broken aircraft watching the ground coming to meet you.
Last edited by Shackman; 16th Jun 2012 at 12:24.
Reason: Final para missed