I've never had an engine failure in a single, but I've had 3 double engine failures in twins. Luckily all of them were by day and I was not flying over built-up areas or particularly hostile terrain. All were in older aircraft with relatively low cruise speeds by today's standards (90 - 110 its). In 2 instances I was IMC at the time of engine failure. In all 3 cases I simultaneously applied enough aft cyclic to stop the nose from dropping and Nr from decaying and lowered the lever to enter autorotation. I don't seem to remember losing very much height at all during entry to auto and (once VMC) I was able to decide what sort of auto I wished to do to and was luckily enough to land the aircraft and myself undamaged.
For many years, and well before the days of simulators in which to practice these things, I was asked by students why I always insisted on doing autorotations when flying a twin as the possibility of a double engine failure was so remote as to to be discounted :roll eyes:.
In later years I often used to practice engine off landings (or touch-down autos as our trans-Atlantic brothers often call them) in a variety of twins such as the Bell 212 and the Twin Squirrel (as I found it little different from doing them in the single Squirrel
).
I was lucky and have survived my career in aviation to beyond my best-before date so far despite my lack of co-ordination and skills (or so my basic rotary instructor always told me
), but some days no matter how lucky or skilled the pilot he (or she) may just find that the grim reaper has just come calling.