I have a similar story to Colibri49. Flying a very heavy S61 in Thailand at +30C so any of you know who flew the old girl knows that means single engine performance was lets say, less than spectacular.
Offshore enroute to a jack-up the Fire Light came on. So I was faced with 2 choices, follow the ECL drill and attempt to make my onshore alternate at maybe 60kts and 500' or delay the shutdown, continue the extra 5 miles to the deck and land AEO. I had the flight attendant check for any signs of smoke/heat/fire in the cabin, checked in the gratefully installed rear view mirrors and having considerable time in the old girl and knowing and having experienced more than one false fire indication, I decided that the risk of flying 90 miles OEI outweighed the risk of 5 miles with a fire light. An uneventful landing on the rig and subsequent discovery of a pinched fire detection wire followed.
What I did at the time was contrary to the ECL, as at that time there was no provision to "check for secondary, or confirm the fire" By chance I was the Type Tech pilot for the 61 at the time so I added that to ECL at the next revision.
I should add that today, in the 139 with its helium vs the 2 wire organic salts detector and the OEI performance my decision would be different as to shutting the engine down. Now ditching without confirmation is another matter.
Last edited by Outwest; 9th Jan 2016 at 05:15.