Rotorspeed,
There would have to be more than one failure of the fuel system. The "Amber" warning part has 4 sensors - any one of which will generate a caution, plus 2 transfer pump captions. The "Red + Audio" warnings are separate and independent systems.
If the fuel tanks display that there is plenty of fuel but the "Red + Audio" appears then I would believe it and land fairly sharply - you have no more than 8 mins at this point. Finally, the different "size" of the supply tanks and the 4kg difference between them means one engine shutting down before the other is designed as an un-missable clue that you really should be on the ground.
Cabby -
"Fuel limits are often flown to minima's on police ops. Its usually the police who want to stay on task longer with the pilot wanting to go back to base ten minutes earlier and fuel light activations do occur".
You are clearly not one of my pilots. If your "passengers" want to stay on scene with the fuel running low then you really do need to sort out your captaincy and get your crews into a simulator - and soon.
"The area was well lit, I don't think NVG's would have made any difference over a city".
Then clearly you have never used them.
"The police crew have their own airwave radios onboard which would have allowed them to push their personal emergency button which would have taken priority on the police comms".
Correct, but the emergency button has to be pressed - the personal radios are stowed and switched off. The aircraft Airwave head also has an emergency button but it requires to be pressed and held for 2 seconds and then confirmed before it activates. With engines out, the generators are offline so the mission bus drops out as both generators are required to run it - hence no camera, no searchlight, no mapping, no tac radios, no recorder.
In a fast developing emergency, the police crew, legally passengers, would be better off locking their harness and adopting the brace position than trying to find a button to press.
Last edited by Fortyodd2; 3rd Dec 2013 at 13:23.