No matter what the fuel gauges were reading, the cause of this crash was not fuel exhaustion.
There are some things you have to practise until they are instinctive. No thinking. For an aeroplane: Too slow, nose down. Others I call "mantras". One is: If the engine stops? Think: Turn the fuel on. Silly? Read the light aircraft crash reports.
Surely the first thing a student rotary-wing pilot learns is the wings must move to fly. Certainly a fixed-wing student pilot knows. No rotor rpm in a helicopter is the equivalent of an aerodynamic stall in a tail-heavy aeroplane?
Peter Gillies' discussion. I am not surprised it created a furore. But the proof of the pudding is in the eating. This aircraft was not autorotating when it went through the roof.
Faulty gauges. Was the pilot misled into thinking it was fuel exhaustion when it was fuel starvation? That is, unregistered "hidden" fuel in the main tank but none in the supply tanks. Faulty gauges and faulty pump at the same time?