Case in point


In the fall of 2021, veteran utility pilot Anthony Brucie completed MD 500 factory pilot training where he and his instructor performed advanced touchdown autorotations (high OGE) to simulate the environment that utility pilots often find themselves in.


Several months later, Brucie was on a job working on power-line structures. His next task was to depart the LZ with a 60-foot longline under the aircraft, fly the span of a couple structures, pick a lineman off the structure, and relocate him to another location. En route to the top of the structure, with the wind and power lines off to his left, the engine quit at 120 feet and 30 knots.


Brucie instantly entered autorotation, but could not turn immediately left and into the wind because the power lines were in the way.


It was at this


moment that his training kicked in. As he came into the flare, he noticed that his intended touch- down point had a ditch running perpendicular to it. He needed to cross that ditch. At the bottom of the auto he traded off some RPM to extend the glide and was able to cross the ditch at about 10 feet AGL. As he leveled off and settled to the ground, and the last remnants of RPM bled off, the aircraft


MD instructor Jason Green provides engine maintenance training to a cadre of mechanics. 70 May/June 2023


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