Narrative:

I showed up at [company] hangar to preflight [the helicopter]. Preflight consisted of weather check (confirm VFR); fuel sample and thorough lookover of aircraft. I departed [the] airport to pick up two passengers. Shortly after we continued on to [the] lz [landing zone] where I shut down for roughly twenty minutes to brief with ground crew and attach my long line. Then I started up; checked my lights and gauges; picked up and started slinging loads of trash between the lz and bridge. [After] I informed ground crew that I had twenty minutes of work time left; I turned on my start pump. Then I landed at the lz to unhook my line and fly up to ZZZ to refuel.before taking off from the lz; I noted that my fuel gauge indicated 145 pounds of fuel and noted warning/caution lights out and the rest of the gauges in the green arc. As I was passing over a ridge at 300 feet and 50 knots; I noted a deceleration of engine and rotor RPM followed by the engine out light and low rotor RPM light. I entered autorotation and got a mayday call out as I looked for a suitable landing site. None were found so the trees were my only option. Before impacting the trees I flared the aircraft to a nose high attitude to stop forward movement. As the aircraft settled I leveled and started to apply collective pitch to cushion the impact. After the aircraft came to a standstill I looked myself over and unbuckled. At that point our other company aircraft was on scene and was able to help extract me from the trees via longline. At no time did I get a low fuel light or a low fuel indication.upon interviewing with local police they told me that they had removed the keys to the ignition. I later came to find out that they had turned off all the toggle switches; turning off my anti-collision light switch and start pump. Post incident it was brought to my attention that the fuel gauge had been sticking at 150 lbs of fuel. When the aircraft was refueled the indicator would unstick and read the appropriate level. I believe if this indicator malfunction had be written up in the aircraft discrepancy log and addressed before being returned to service; this would never have happened.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: MD500 helicopter pilot reported making an autorotation landing in a treed area due to fuel starvation.

Narrative: I showed up at [Company] hangar to preflight [the helicopter]. Preflight consisted of weather check (confirm VFR); fuel sample and thorough lookover of aircraft. I departed [the] airport to pick up two passengers. Shortly after we continued on to [the] LZ [Landing Zone] where I shut down for roughly twenty minutes to brief with ground crew and attach my long line. Then I started up; checked my lights and gauges; picked up and started slinging loads of trash between the LZ and bridge. [After] I informed ground crew that I had twenty minutes of work time left; I turned on my start pump. Then I landed at the LZ to unhook my line and fly up to ZZZ to refuel.Before taking off from the LZ; I noted that my fuel gauge indicated 145 pounds of fuel and noted warning/caution lights out and the rest of the gauges in the green arc. As I was passing over a ridge at 300 feet and 50 knots; I noted a deceleration of engine and rotor RPM followed by the engine out light and low rotor RPM light. I entered autorotation and got a mayday call out as I looked for a suitable landing site. None were found so the trees were my only option. Before impacting the trees I flared the aircraft to a nose high attitude to stop forward movement. As the aircraft settled I leveled and started to apply collective pitch to cushion the impact. After the aircraft came to a standstill I looked myself over and unbuckled. At that point our other company aircraft was on scene and was able to help extract me from the trees via longline. At no time did I get a low fuel light or a low fuel indication.Upon interviewing with local police they told me that they had removed the keys to the ignition. I later came to find out that they had turned off all the toggle switches; turning off my anti-collision light switch and start pump. Post incident it was brought to my attention that the fuel gauge had been sticking at 150 lbs of fuel. When the aircraft was refueled the indicator would unstick and read the appropriate level. I believe if this indicator malfunction had be written up in the aircraft discrepancy log and addressed before being returned to service; this would never have happened.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.