What happens when the engine quits in a chopper?

When I used to tell people that I wanted to learn how to fly a helicopter they would say one of two things, and sometimes both. The first was something along the lines of "cool/awesome/sweet as bro" or any other excited exclamations. The second is "aren't you scared of falling out of the sky like a brick if the engine quits?" The answer to this question is simply "no".

If and when the engine quits in a chopper you do have a very short window to react before the RPM of the main rotor blades get dangerously low, and by this I mean the result could be catastrophic. However once you enter the "autorotation" ("auto" for short cos we're lazy 'er in oz) I'd rather be in a chopper than a plane if the engine spits it. 

Imaging the engine goes in a helicopter and you start to descend. Now, if you set the machine up properly the airflow that is now moving up through the rotating blades is like wind for a windmill. This means that as you descend, the airflow blows the rotor blades around to keep them spinning (hence the name autorotation), ensuring the rotor RPM remains where it should. You then choose a landing spot and as you approach the ground you can use the spinning blades to slow down the rate of decent and even stop the airspeed. This means a heli can land in a car park, on the beach, between trees, in a backyard, etc. whereas an aeroplane has to land on a long, generally flat and hard surface if it's engine was to stop.

Over the past few lessons I've been learning how to do running take offs and landings (dragging the skids along the ground), used if you are power limited but the landings are good practice for autorotations since you may still have some speed when you make it to the ground. I've also been learning "quickstops" which are essentially all in the name: you have forward speed, generally level and you bring the heli to a hover ASAP. This is good training for the coordination required in the auto.

The weather this week has been touch and go with passing showers, the odd thunderstorm and gusty winds at times. It has been good to get experience in real world weather, with larger inputs required on all controls and more to think about whilst in the ever changing fluid of the atmosphere. The hanger of Rotorvation is over the road to the police airwing hanger, hence the photos of the machine that I want to fly in one day :) The Airbus helicopters dauphin (french for dolphin due to the shape of the body) has a weather radar in the nose of the aircraft to help detect showers and thunderstorms ahead! My kind of chopper!

WA Police Airwing Dauphin helicopter

Another storm roles in from the coast