Hover re-fuel.
Hallo Pruners,
From experience I can tell all, that a hover refuel once prevented an accident.
Returning from a crop spraying calibration at Sutton Bridge in 1976, as I lowered the lever for landing, the left skid began buckling from a fracture of the forward eg. The type was a F28C Enstrom. The ground refueller/chemical loader signalled the problem to me. Rotors turning chemical loading was normal for the operation, but not Avgas refuelling.
The fuel state gave an estimated 5 to 10 minutes remaining.
The engineer, Tony Ticehurst called on the hand held and suggested he could make a short term repair fix but which might need more time. The usual refuelling truck was on site and as the machine was held in a hover around five gallons was loaded. (fire extinguisher equipment well at the ready as we had full fire cover for the spraying operation. The engineer was able to secure clip a supporting brace (claw jemmy) which allowed the safe landing.
Later it was suggested to me It might have been better to put the machine down on a suitable tree stump, but we couldn't find one ! An accident definitely avoided.