First off a great job of flying. The key to surviving an EFATO is to contact the ground under control, wings level, and in a level or slightly nose up attitude; something this pilot did well.
I am however curious as to whether the pilot was wearing a shoulder harness. Personally I will no longer fly light aircraft that do not have shoulder harnesses fitted. There is clear and compelling evidence that many people have suffered grievous face and head injuries as a result of jacknifing over the lap belt and smashing into the control wheel and/or instrument panel. Had their upper body been restrained they would have likely suffered no, or only minor injuries.
At the risk of being mean minded, the accident statistics show that around 80 % of all engine failures were caused by the actions or inactions of the pilot. Since no cause was found for the failure and a sudden and complete loss of power is usually a result of no fuel or contaminated fuel being fed to the engine, I wonder what really happened here.
The bottom line is simple, The best way to deal with an EFATO is to not have the engine to fail in the first place. Therefore IMO, some of the most valuable EFATO accident lessons to learn are not about the post engine failure flying technique used to successfully land, but about understanding the traps that the pilot fell into that caused him/her to contribute to the engine failing in the first place.
Last edited by Big Pistons Forever; 27th May 2013 at 00:57.