Tackling Engine Fire After Take Off in Multi Engine Heli
This must have been discussed many time before..just bear with me! Let us say we have bad luck and there is a No 1 Eng Fire warning just after rotation on take off from the rig. Normal Emergency operating procedures will be to continue the take off, get the Vtoss, Vy , climb and fly the established profile before handling the emergency. At what altitude would you do the fire drill bearing in mind that the take off brief is " No engines to be secured below 500 ft".
Many years ago the brief was "No engines to be secured below 500 ft except in the case of engine on fire where I will initiate the drill". This was modified to avoid speedy gonzales from securing the wrong engine (Think of a worst case scenerio...night, marginal weather, some turbulence and a BRAND NEW co pilot!)
One school of thought is that Fire is very serious so you have to contain it straight away. The other school of thought is this fire is an external fire so you still get power from the affected engine so make use of it first to avoid getting into deeper trouble. Both are right to a certain extent. What are your views on this subject?