The pilot of a rented J3 cub flew into the abe class C and; upon exiting; noted that the fuel level ...

Attributes
ACN	845214
Time
Date	200907
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ABE.Airport
State Reference	PA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	J3 Cub
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	None
Flight Plan	None
Component
Aircraft Component	Fuel Quantity-Pressure Indication
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Flight Instructor
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 70 Flight Crew Total 500 Flight Crew Type 1.5
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Airspace Violation All Types

Narrative:

During a local pleasure flight in a rented airplane I got lost near abe airport (class C). Neither radios; nor radio navigation is installed on the aircraft. I was maintaining altitude of about 2000 ft MSL to stay below class C outer shelf. While trying to establish my exact location I noticed abe airport in about 3-4 n.m. Then I turned outbound from airport to exit class C as soon as possible. After analyzing the incident I noticed that new york sectional charting is inadequate around that area. For most of the flight the fuel indicator (rod sticking out of tank with float in the tank) was descending into the fuel tank at a normal slow rate. About 1.7 hours into the flight the rod dropped with a faster rate eventually all the way to the stop. According to my calculation there should have been fuel for about 1.0 hour. Because of the nature of the terrain in the area I made a decision to do a precautionary landing on a sports field. A normal landing was made. No one got injured; no damage was made.after examining the fuel tank it turned out there was fuel for about 40 minutes of flight. I was about 15 minutes away from my final destination.I feel that inadequate info was available to me during the checkout in that particular aircraft type.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: The pilot of a rented J3 Cub flew into the ABE Class C and; upon exiting; noted that the fuel level indicator had rapidly decreased to an unacceptable level. A precautionary landing was made in a sports field.

Narrative: During a local pleasure flight in a rented airplane I got lost near ABE airport (class C). Neither radios; nor radio navigation is installed on the aircraft. I was maintaining altitude of about 2000 ft MSL to stay below class C outer shelf. While trying to establish my exact location I noticed ABE airport in about 3-4 n.m. Then I turned outbound from airport to exit class C as soon as possible. After analyzing the incident I noticed that New York Sectional charting is inadequate around that area. For most of the flight the fuel indicator (rod sticking out of tank with float in the tank) was descending into the fuel tank at a normal slow rate. About 1.7 hours into the flight the rod dropped with a faster rate eventually all the way to the stop. According to my calculation there should have been fuel for about 1.0 hour. Because of the nature of the terrain in the area I made a decision to do a precautionary landing on a sports field. A normal landing was made. No one got injured; no damage was made.After examining the fuel tank it turned out there was fuel for about 40 minutes of flight. I was about 15 minutes away from my final destination.I feel that inadequate info was available to me during the checkout in that particular aircraft type.

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.

The pilot of a rented J3 cub flew into the abe class C and; upon exiting; noted that the fuel level indicator had rapidly decreased to an unacceptable level. A precautionary landing was made in a sports field.