Operating a MEH over a city with very little fuel in the tanks, pumps incorrectly configured, seems the most likely scenario.
Much as we all want to deny the possibility of the obvious (Mull of Kintyre, Battersea crane) and vehemently deny the guy(s) in question were even remotely fallible the fact remains that what looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck almost certainly
is a duck.
Unpalatable as it is, logic suggests that it is by far (I'd hazard 98%) the most likely scenario.