Narrative:

On the date listed; I was flying cross country to my destination. I calculated my flight time to be approximately 3 hours and 55 minutes at 90 KTS. I calculated fuel burn at 7.5 gph. My aircraft carries 34 gallons usable fuel and that gave me 4.5 hours flight time. I carried 2 adult male passengers and calculated that I was only 25 pounds under gross weight with full fuel. Due to the weight of the aircraft; I had to circle over la harbor and torrance to reach 4500 ft to go through the lax special flight rules area. I had to use full climb power until well past fillmore VOR to reach my cruising altitude of 8500 ft to clear the mountains. I remained at 8500 ft and leaned the mixture for cruise. Another aircraft who was to meet with us at our destination contacted me. He stated he was northbound; parallel with my course approximately 15 NM east of me. His GPS was reading at 22 KT headwind component. He eventually flew on ahead of me and we broke off radio contact later. Both of my passengers had never been in a small aircraft before and I allowed myself to be distracted answering questions about the flight and about our business that evening. I descended to 6500 ft and continued to descend to 3500 ft as I passed over ZZZ airport. I noted both the airport I had just passed and destination ATIS reported 25 KT surface winds opposite my direction of flight. I believed I had been in the air 3 hours 30 minutes. I contacted tower and reported approximately 12 miles south. The controller gave me instructions to enter the traffic pattern. About one minute later; I had a significant loss of power. The engine was running 800 RPM at full power and rich mixture. I knew I had recently over flown ZZZ; so I put the nose down for best glide and turned 180 degrees; the controller immediately noted my course change asked my intentions. I told him I had lost power and was heading to ZZZ. He asked me if I 'needed assistance;' to which I stated; 'yes; I have lost power.' I did not really understand what he meant by needing assistance; but I was just concentrating on flying the airplane and finding a place to land. I am not sure the controller ever heard my response as I never heard a response back from him. I did not declare an emergency as the airplane was flying very well with the engine idling and I was lined up on a long straight country road that was leading toward ZZZ airport. I told my passengers that we would either land on the road or the airport; if we could fly that far on our limited power. When I was sure I could make the field; I turned east and landed safely at ZZZ airport; which is uncontrolled and unattended. As we rolled down the runway; the engine quit completely. I attempted to contact the my original destination airport tower; but could not raise him on the ground. I used my cell phone to call my friend who had landed there. My friend advised the tower that I had landed safely and they told him I was fine and did not take any further action. My passengers and I pulled my airplane to a tie down spot. I then looked at my watch and realized we had been in the air 4 hours 25 minutes. I had failed to keep track of time and had flown almost one hour longer than I realized. I should have also realized that with the added time to climb and the headwind; I could not have been as far along my route as I believed I was in 3 hours and 30 minutes.after fueling the airplane and calculating the burn rate on that trip was actually 8 gph. Due to the weight of the aircraft; I had also underestimated my fuel burn rate. It took 35.5 gallons to refuel the airplane and the engine ran fine. As I had no damage or injury and did not declare an emergency; I did not file an incident report. I don't believe I ever entered class D airspace; which is probably why the controller was not that concerned with me. In spite of mistakes I made which allowed the aircraft to run out fuel; my prior training of situational awareness and always having a plan of where toland in just such a circumstance is what allowed me to land the aircraft safely. To avoid this ever happening again; I implemented a 3 hour time limit on my flying. If I cannot make my destination in 3 hours; I will land and refuel. This will not only insure that I obtain adequate fuel to complete the trip; but give my passengers and I the opportunity to relax; use the facilities and for me to review my plans for the last leg of the trip with a rested mind.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: C172 pilot planned and executed 3+55 flight with 4+25 fuel on board. Head winds and near maximum gross weight cause flight to run long. Twelve miles from destination at 4+25 flight time fuel runs out. Reporter is able to glide to nearby uncontrolled airport.

Narrative: On the date listed; I was flying cross country to my destination. I calculated my flight time to be approximately 3 hours and 55 minutes at 90 KTS. I calculated fuel burn at 7.5 GPH. My aircraft carries 34 gallons usable fuel and that gave me 4.5 hours flight time. I carried 2 adult male passengers and calculated that I was only 25 pounds under gross weight with full fuel. Due to the weight of the aircraft; I had to circle over LA Harbor and Torrance to reach 4500 FT to go through the LAX special flight rules area. I had to use full climb power until well past Fillmore VOR to reach my cruising altitude of 8500 FT to clear the mountains. I remained at 8500 FT and leaned the mixture for cruise. Another aircraft who was to meet with us at our destination contacted me. He stated he was northbound; parallel with my course approximately 15 NM east of me. His GPS was reading at 22 KT headwind component. He eventually flew on ahead of me and we broke off radio contact later. Both of my passengers had never been in a small aircraft before and I allowed myself to be distracted answering questions about the flight and about our business that evening. I descended to 6500 FT and continued to descend to 3500 FT as I passed over ZZZ airport. I noted both the airport I had just passed and destination ATIS reported 25 KT surface winds opposite my direction of flight. I believed I had been in the air 3 Hours 30 minutes. I contacted Tower and reported approximately 12 miles south. The controller gave me instructions to enter the traffic pattern. About one minute later; I had a significant loss of power. The engine was running 800 RPM at full power and rich mixture. I knew I had recently over flown ZZZ; so I put the nose down for best glide and turned 180 degrees; The Controller immediately noted my course change asked my intentions. I told him I had lost power and was heading to ZZZ. He asked me if I 'needed assistance;' to which I stated; 'yes; I have lost power.' I did not really understand what he meant by needing assistance; but I was just concentrating on flying the airplane and finding a place to land. I am not sure the Controller ever heard my response as I never heard a response back from him. I did not declare an emergency as the airplane was flying very well with the engine idling and I was lined up on a long straight country road that was leading toward ZZZ Airport. I told my passengers that we would either land on the road or the airport; if we could fly that far on our limited power. When I was sure I could make the field; I turned east and landed safely at ZZZ Airport; which is uncontrolled and unattended. As we rolled down the runway; the engine quit completely. I attempted to contact the my original destination airport Tower; but could not raise him on the ground. I used my cell phone to call my friend who had landed there. My friend advised the Tower that I had landed safely and they told him I was fine and did not take any further action. My passengers and I pulled my airplane to a tie down spot. I then looked at my watch and realized we had been in the air 4 hours 25 minutes. I had failed to keep track of time and had flown almost one hour longer than I realized. I should have also realized that with the added time to climb and the headwind; I could not have been as far along my route as I believed I was in 3 hours and 30 minutes.After fueling the airplane and calculating the burn rate on that trip was actually 8 GPH. Due to the weight of the aircraft; I had also underestimated my fuel burn rate. It took 35.5 gallons to refuel the airplane and the engine ran fine. As I had no damage or injury and did not declare an emergency; I did not file an incident report. I don't believe I ever entered Class D airspace; which is probably why the Controller was not that concerned with me. In spite of mistakes I made which allowed the aircraft to run out fuel; my prior training of situational awareness and always having a plan of where toland in just such a circumstance is what allowed me to land the aircraft safely. To avoid this ever happening again; I implemented a 3 hour time limit on my flying. If I cannot make my destination in 3 hours; I will land and refuel. This will not only insure that I obtain adequate fuel to complete the trip; but give my passengers and I the opportunity to relax; use the facilities and for me to review my plans for the last leg of the trip with a rested mind.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.