An AT502B landed off airport because the fuel quantity and fuel low lights are unreliable during man...

Narrative:

On a morning flight I experienced an off field landing due to fuel exhaustion. The fuel on board (fob) required a large hopper load and half tank of fuel. Ground personnel began loading the aircraft and I took a brief break for lunch. I received a letter which expressed actions which may affect me negatively during the break. I returned to the aircraft and found ground personnel had completed operations. I reset the fuel totalizer and went to work on a field 3 miles east of a nearby airport. The engine quit in a turn during the application about 45 minutes after departure. The fuel gages are a single sending unit type and are erratic with fuel sloshing in the application phase of flight with steep banking turns. The aircraft is equipped with a low fuel warning light. The light placement and intensity make it very difficult to determine if it is illuminated in bright daylight conditions. I placed too much confidence in the ground personnel and was distracted by other concerns not related to the flight ultimately making complacency and fatigue the determining factors.to prevent the recurrence the pilot should monitor the loading procedures to verify expected actions have been properly performed. As additional safety measures we are discussing some changes to the aircraft. The addition of a master caution light more in the pilots line of vision with adequate intensity to alert the pilot to any warning light illuminating. Also installation of a refueling system which will allow the pilot to select a partial fuel setting and will automatically stop fuel flow at that quantity to aid in identifying adequate fuel has been loaded

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An AT502B landed off airport because the fuel quantity and fuel low lights are unreliable during maneuvering flight and on these flights fuel was limited because of large hopper loads. Complacency and Fatigue were factors.

Narrative: On a morning flight I experienced an off field landing due to fuel exhaustion. The Fuel On Board (FOB) required a large hopper load and half tank of fuel. Ground Personnel began loading the aircraft and I took a brief break for lunch. I received a letter which expressed actions which may affect me negatively during the break. I returned to the aircraft and found Ground Personnel had completed operations. I reset the fuel totalizer and went to work on a field 3 miles east of a nearby airport. The engine quit in a turn during the application about 45 minutes after departure. The fuel gages are a single sending unit type and are erratic with fuel sloshing in the application phase of flight with steep banking turns. The aircraft is equipped with a low fuel warning light. The light placement and intensity make it very difficult to determine if it is illuminated in bright daylight conditions. I placed too much confidence in the ground personnel and was distracted by other concerns not related to the flight ultimately making complacency and fatigue the determining factors.To prevent the recurrence the pilot should monitor the loading procedures to verify expected actions have been properly performed. As additional safety measures we are discussing some changes to the aircraft. The addition of a master caution light more in the pilots line of vision with adequate intensity to alert the pilot to any warning light illuminating. Also installation of a refueling system which will allow the pilot to select a partial fuel setting and will automatically stop fuel flow at that quantity to aid in identifying adequate fuel has been loaded

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 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.

Attributes
ACN	1028460
Time
Date	201208
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Small Transport
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 137
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	None
Flight Plan	None
Component
Aircraft Component	Fuel Quantity-Pressure Indication
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 150 Flight Crew Total 1500 Flight Crew Type 125
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue

An AT502B landed off airport because the fuel quantity and fuel low lights are unreliable during maneuvering flight and on these flights fuel was limited because of large hopper loads. Complacency and fatigue were factors.