Emergency forced landing created account of fuel exhaustion.

Attributes
ACN	188599
Time
Date	199107
Day	Wed
Local Time Of Day	1201 To 1800
Place
Locale Reference	airport : 4a7
State Reference	GA
Altitude	agl bound lower : 0 agl bound upper : 1500
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Operator	general aviation : personal
Make Model Name	Small Aircraft
Flight Phase	cruise other
Route In Use	approach : visual
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Affiliation	Other
Function	flight crew : single pilot
Qualification	pilot : commercial pilot : cfi pilot : instrument
Experience	flight time last 90 days : 35 flight time total : 5300 flight time type : 7
ASRS Report	188599
Events
Anomaly	aircraft equipment problem : critical non adherence : far other spatial deviation
Independent Detector	other flight crewa
Resolutory Action	flight crew : declared emergency none taken : unable other
Consequence	Other
Supplementary
Primary Problem	Flight Crew Human Performance
Air Traffic Incident	Pilot Deviation other
Situations
Publication	Unspecified

Narrative:

Forced landing due to possible fuel system anomaly. The aircraft flight manual has a few pages of procedures and did not state any portion of fuel was not usable, so I assumed all fuel in the tank was unusable. I believe there is a potential for undiscovered unusable fuel. I feel a revision to the flight manual should be made stating whether there is or is not unusable fuel. This revision should be a requirement for the issuance of an aircraft certification. Experimental aircraft should be tested to determine if there is unusable fuel in the fuel system.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: EMER FORCED LNDG CREATED ACCOUNT OF FUEL EXHAUSTION.

Narrative: FORCED LNDG DUE TO POSSIBLE FUEL SYS ANOMALY. THE ACFT FLT MANUAL HAS A FEW PAGES OF PROCS AND DID NOT STATE ANY PORTION OF FUEL WAS NOT USABLE, SO I ASSUMED ALL FUEL IN THE TANK WAS UNUSABLE. I BELIEVE THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR UNDISCOVERED UNUSABLE FUEL. I FEEL A REVISION TO THE FLT MANUAL SHOULD BE MADE STATING WHETHER THERE IS OR IS NOT UNUSABLE FUEL. THIS REVISION SHOULD BE A REQUIREMENT FOR THE ISSUANCE OF AN ACFT CERTIFICATION. EXPERIMENTAL ACFT SHOULD BE TESTED TO DETERMINE IF THERE IS UNUSABLE FUEL IN THE FUEL SYS.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2007 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.