The fuel transfer pumps on a Eurocopter EC135 had been switched off before both engines flamed out and the helicopter crashed into a bar in Glasgow, Scotland, killing 10 people, the U.K. Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) says.
Eleven other people in the bar or nearby received serious injuries and the helicopter was destroyed in the Nov. 29, 2013, accident, which occurred around 2222 local time, as the helicopter was headed back to Glasgow City Heliport after 1½ hours of surveillance activities conducted by two police observers who were the helicopter’s sole passengers.
In its final report, the AAIB said that, at the time of the crash, the main fuel tanks still held more than 70 kg (154 lb) of usable fuel, which “became unusable as a result of the fuel transfer pumps being switched off for unknown reasons.” The two cells of the fuel supply tank — each of which fed fuel to its respective engine — held no usable fuel, the report added.
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