Factual error: In the rescue scene where the Coast Guard Cutter Tamaroa is picking up the downed helicopter crew, the Tamaroa is shown as a modern day cutter. The real Tamaroa is an old ship, which is about to be decommissioned. The real Tamaroa and the one shown in the movie are nothing alike. While the ships only differ by 5 feet (Tamaroa was 205' and the other 210'), the differences are more substantial because Tamaroa was built with a substantially lower center of gravity, which helped Tamoroa remain upright during the storm despite rolls of 55° in each direction (110°). The other cutter would likely have never have survived that storm. (01:22:00)
Factual error: The movie was set in 1991, but there is a newspaper with a Kia advertisement. Kia's first U.S. cars arrived in 1994.
Factual error: When the men are watching movies, there's a copy of Blade Runner (Director's Cut) on the table. The director's cut was released in 1992, but this movie is set in 1991.
Factual error: The rough wave is going the wrong way. When they left the eye and entered the "Eye Wall" (the most powerful part of hurricanes), they suddenly meet that massive rogue. The problem is, the powerful rotating Eye Wall's forces push massive waves AWAY from the rotating center. The rogue in the movie was headed toward the hurricane's center, but the Eye Wall would have broken it down, demolished it and sucked into the rotating momentum of hurricane. It never happened.
Factual error: At the very beginning of the movie it says "Gloucester, Massachusetts 1991" and shows boats in the harbour including the Leisure Casino Cruises ship. Casino cruises did not start in Gloucester until 1997 or 1998.
Answer: That's not how the refueling line works; it would only dispense fuel if the helicopter's line was attached. Even if it didn't, the fuel they released would have been immediately swept away by the gale, diluted with the rainwater, so any minute amount that miraculously entered the helicopter's line would have been completely negligible and wouldn't have made a difference.