(cough cough) Bathtub curve, anyone?results of a five-year study of GA engine-failure accident data from the NTSB which demonstrated conclusively that by far the highest risk of an engine-failure accident occurs when the engine is young rather than when it’s old.
“The data indicates we should be a lot more worried about a catastrophic engine failure during the first 200 hours after the engine is overhauled or rebuilt than during the first 200 hours after the engine has passed its recommended TBO,” Whit explained.
“There are very few engine-failure accidents involving engines beyond TBO,” Whit continued, “and 80% of those were traced to maintenance errors rather than to any age-related cause.”
Single engine over water, mountains or night is fine with me. Generally the pilot is the weakest link, not the crankshaft.
I have this sneaking suspicion that two pilots and one engine is safer than one pilot with two engines.