Unlikely to be fuel exhaustion, they just took off. The abrupt low level early steep turn after take-off hinted to me that what was to come would not be pretty. You don't have many options when flying below 1500' in a single engine helicopter over a built-up area if the engine loses power. I reckon this guy was no higher than 500' AGL in the cruise when the engine lost power (which is never good if you have 7/8ths of tall buildings and obstructions below you). As seen in the video. The RRPM was recovered in auto-rotation just before impact, but not the rate of descent (no big pull on the collective at the bottom evident). Why he didn't do an immediate left turn when the low RRPM warning sounded and at least try to get to the beach is a mystery. I didn't pick up any shouted warning from the pilot to the passengers to brace for crash landing either (the passenger up front wasn't wearing a headset). At risk of sounding critical, seems not much airmanship on display there from beginning to end. It is very regrettable that an innocent person on the ground was killed by the crashing helicopter.
Last edited by gulliBell; 4th Jan 2019 at 23:57.