An rv-6 pilot landed off airport because of fuel starvation after taking off with no fuel quantity i...

Narrative:

Flew into this airport 4 days previously; noted that I had about 1 hour of fuel remaining; i.e.; a quarter of a tank. On morning of incident; went to airport to fly 20 miles south for fuel. Due to fuel tank being 'low' -- no fuel will show up on inspection when less than a quarter. The tank gauges showed enough fuel; the previous trip should have allowed enough fuel. On takeoff; all was normal till 5 minutes after takeoff when engine quit. [I] switched to other tank; turned back to airport. Engine restarted and ran north 1 minute and quit. Attempted to return to the airport; but unable. Elected to land alongside highway; and I descended; realized there was no traffic or telephone wires. I swerved to land on highway which was done. Pushed plane off highway down an embankment and tail pushed up against wire fence. Not sure at this point why engine quit; but know I should have added enough gas to be sure there was no possibility. Not sure why my previous experience led me to believe there was enough gas; but hindsight tells me why I would have not been more sure when I took off. When a fuel tank shows no visible fuel; put fuel in regardless of what previous experience tells one how much should still be in the tank or what fuel gauge shows versus what is previously shown. No gas visible means no gas and not 4 gallons that I think is still there. Off airport landing; fuel exhaustion? No damage.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An RV-6 pilot landed off airport because of fuel starvation after taking off with no fuel quantity indicated because previous experience told him he should have enough fuel to fly to a nearby airport.

Narrative: Flew into this airport 4 days previously; noted that I had about 1 hour of fuel remaining; i.e.; a quarter of a tank. On morning of incident; went to airport to fly 20 miles south for fuel. Due to fuel tank being 'low' -- no fuel will show up on inspection when less than a quarter. The tank gauges showed enough fuel; the previous trip should have allowed enough fuel. On takeoff; all was normal till 5 minutes after takeoff when engine quit. [I] switched to other tank; turned back to airport. Engine restarted and ran north 1 minute and quit. Attempted to return to the airport; but unable. Elected to land alongside highway; and I descended; realized there was no traffic or telephone wires. I swerved to land on highway which was done. Pushed plane off highway down an embankment and tail pushed up against wire fence. Not sure at this point why engine quit; but know I should have added enough gas to be sure there was no possibility. Not sure why my previous experience led me to believe there was enough gas; but hindsight tells me why I would have not been more sure when I took off. When a fuel tank shows no visible fuel; put fuel in regardless of what previous experience tells one how much should still be in the tank or what fuel gauge shows versus what is previously shown. No gas visible means no gas and not 4 gallons that I think is still there. Off airport landing; fuel exhaustion? No damage.

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	1088662
Time
Date	201305
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	RV-6
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Climb
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	None
Component
Aircraft Component	Fuel Quantity-Pressure Indication
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Private
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 40 Flight Crew Total 3000 Flight Crew Type 300
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue

An rv-6 pilot landed off airport because of fuel starvation after taking off with no fuel quantity indicated because previous experience told him he should have enough fuel to fly to a nearby airport.