Just a thought, suppose the pilot had been flying on night vision goggles (NVGs), and in the course of the urgent actions to diagnose the fuel issue, take appropriate actions and enter autorotation, he had dislodged the NVGs or otherwise caused them to stop working. Could this have caused him to midjudge the height to flare, or realise much too late that his first choice of landing area was unsuitable?
Maybe a regular NVG user could comment on how long it takes to regain vision at low level when coming off goggles?