A flight design clts pilot detected a surging motor; shut it down then landed safely on a road. Fuel...

Narrative:

Conducted pre-flight; did visual; confirmed that there was approximately 15 gallons of fuel as reflected by the fuel gauge instrument; conducted internal visual inspection; and confirmed fuel in left and right tanks as well as visual inspection and dipstick measurement in left tank indicating 7 gallons (one-half of the amount of fuel in the electronic fuel gauge.) utilized flight following at 4;500 feet with a heading of approximately 290 degrees. Encountered a substantial headwind significantly extending flight time. Within approximately 10 miles of my destination while at 4;000 feet; I began to notice a surging of the motor. I reviewed all of the systems and confirmed that there was 2 ½ hours or more of additional flight time per fuel gauge. I was unable to determine the cause of the engine problem and elected to turn off the engine; the gas; and land on a roadway that was clear and unpopulated by oncoming traffic. I executed a typical uneventful landing onto a blacktop road and pulled the plane over to the side of the road to permit traffic to pass. In checking the tanks; it appears that there was little or no fuel contrary to the indications on the gauge which I photographed shortly before the landing. The plane is equipped with a ballistic parachute but based on my experience; I was not concerned about executing the landing. A vehicle stopped and gave me a ride to secure some additional fuel. I put an additional 4 gallons in the plane and took off from the roadway and landed a few minutes later at my destination. When I secured fuel at a gas pump I determined that a rubber gasket had fallen off the cap and as a result; fuel was leaking out of the tank at a significant rate. It is evident that the FBO that fueled the empty tank inadvertently dislodged the o-ring and consequently; the electronic gauge did not measure the loss or use of all of the fuel that was originally placed in the left and right tanks.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Flight Design CLTS pilot detected a surging motor; shut it down then landed safely on a road. Fuel exhaustion was the cause but more than enough should have been on board. After securing fuel he flew to his destination where he found a fuel cap seal missing which allowed inflight fuel syphoning.

Narrative: Conducted pre-flight; did visual; confirmed that there was approximately 15 gallons of fuel as reflected by the fuel gauge instrument; conducted internal visual inspection; and confirmed fuel in left and right tanks as well as visual inspection and dipstick measurement in left tank indicating 7 gallons (one-half of the amount of fuel in the electronic fuel gauge.) utilized flight following at 4;500 feet with a heading of approximately 290 degrees. Encountered a substantial headwind significantly extending flight time. Within approximately 10 miles of my destination while at 4;000 feet; I began to notice a surging of the motor. I reviewed all of the systems and confirmed that there was 2 ½ hours or more of additional flight time per fuel gauge. I was unable to determine the cause of the engine problem and elected to turn off the engine; the gas; and land on a roadway that was clear and unpopulated by oncoming traffic. I executed a typical uneventful landing onto a blacktop road and pulled the plane over to the side of the road to permit traffic to pass. In checking the tanks; it appears that there was little or no fuel contrary to the indications on the gauge which I photographed shortly before the landing. The plane is equipped with a ballistic parachute but based on my experience; I was not concerned about executing the landing. A vehicle stopped and gave me a ride to secure some additional fuel. I put an additional 4 gallons in the plane and took off from the roadway and landed a few minutes later at my destination. When I secured fuel at a gas pump I determined that a rubber gasket had fallen off the cap and as a result; fuel was leaking out of the tank at a significant rate. It is evident that the FBO that fueled the empty tank inadvertently dislodged the O-ring and consequently; the electronic gauge did not measure the loss or use of all of the fuel that was originally placed in the left and right tanks.

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.

Attributes
ACN	1291034
Time
Date	201508
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	Light Sport Aircraft
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	VFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Fuel Tank Cap
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Private
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 18 Flight Crew Total 853 Flight Crew Type 170
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue

A flight design clts pilot detected a surging motor; shut it down then landed safely on a road. Fuel exhaustion was the cause but more than enough should have been on board. After securing fuel he flew to his destination where he found a fuel cap seal missing which allowed inflight fuel syphoning.