Narrative:

This statement is to depict as accurately as possible all of the actions leading up to the forced landing. When I arrived at the plane my student was walking around the tail performing his preflight inspection; and I supervised his actions. When he completed the visual inspection of the fuel tanks I too inspected the fuel level; and we both confirmed that the fuel level appeared to be half capacity in each tank. No issues were found during the preflight; and no water was found in any sump or the fuel strainer. We started the aircraft; performed a radio check; and taxied out. No issues were found during our completion of the before takeoff checklist. We departed the runway. We then completed two full stop landings. The third landing was preceded by a stabilized approach just like the ones before. Upon touchdown I raised the flaps; and told the student to turn the carb heat off; and apply full power for one more landing. Upon reaching approximately 35 to 45 ft AGL the rpms decreased substantially; and we began to lose airspeed. At this point there was approximately 500 to 600 ft of runway remaining. I took over the controls; and applied carb heat while also changing the throttle setting to see if this issue could be improved. I also initiated a slight right hand turn to try to stay away from the electrical wires beyond the departure end of the runway. I had only turned approximately 10 to 20 degrees to the right before the engine coughed a couple of times and then quit entirely. I then turned left and planned to put the aircraft down as close to the road as possible in case we needed medical attention. I reduced the throttle to idle; and glided towards my desired touchdown point. I held the aircraft just above the soybeans as long as possible as to dissipate as much speed as possible. The mains settled into the soybeans and I held full backpressure to try to keep the nosewheel from digging into the soil. The aircraft slowed to a walking pace as we approached a drainage ditch on the side of the road; and the aircraft rolled down into the ditch at a very slow speed and settled against the side of the ditch closest to the road. I confirmed with my student that he was unharmed; and we shut off the fuel valve; pulled the mixture to idle cutoff; turned off the magnetos and the master switch; and then evacuated the aircraft. Problem: not enough fuel sufficient for the flight. Cause: visual inspection of the fuel was inadequate; and a fuel pipette should have been used to determine exact amount of fuel on board. Corrective actions: I will never fly a plane unless it is safe and there is more than enough fuel available for the planned flight plus extra. Now I will not fly unless it is either topped off; or there is an approved stick to determine exactly how much fuel is in each tank.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A C152 instructor pilot and student experienced fuel exhaustion and made a forced landing in a field.

Narrative: This statement is to depict as accurately as possible all of the actions leading up to the forced landing. When I arrived at the plane my student was walking around the tail performing his preflight inspection; and I supervised his actions. When he completed the visual inspection of the fuel tanks I too inspected the fuel level; and we both confirmed that the fuel level appeared to be half capacity in each tank. No issues were found during the preflight; and no water was found in any sump or the fuel strainer. We started the aircraft; performed a radio check; and taxied out. No issues were found during our completion of the before takeoff checklist. We departed the runway. We then completed two full stop landings. The third landing was preceded by a stabilized approach just like the ones before. Upon touchdown I raised the flaps; and told the student to turn the carb heat off; and apply full power for one more landing. Upon reaching approximately 35 to 45 FT AGL the RPMs decreased substantially; and we began to lose airspeed. At this point there was approximately 500 to 600 FT of runway remaining. I took over the controls; and applied carb heat while also changing the throttle setting to see if this issue could be improved. I also initiated a slight right hand turn to try to stay away from the electrical wires beyond the departure end of the runway. I had only turned approximately 10 to 20 degrees to the right before the engine coughed a couple of times and then quit entirely. I then turned left and planned to put the aircraft down as close to the road as possible in case we needed medical attention. I reduced the throttle to idle; and glided towards my desired touchdown point. I held the aircraft just above the soybeans as long as possible as to dissipate as much speed as possible. The mains settled into the soybeans and I held full backpressure to try to keep the nosewheel from digging into the soil. The aircraft slowed to a walking pace as we approached a drainage ditch on the side of the road; and the aircraft rolled down into the ditch at a very slow speed and settled against the side of the ditch closest to the road. I confirmed with my student that he was unharmed; and we shut off the fuel valve; pulled the mixture to Idle Cutoff; turned off the magnetos and the master switch; and then evacuated the aircraft. Problem: Not enough fuel sufficient for the flight. Cause: Visual inspection of the fuel was inadequate; and a fuel pipette should have been used to determine EXACT amount of fuel on board. Corrective actions: I will never fly a plane unless it is safe and there is more than enough fuel available for the planned flight PLUS extra. Now I will not fly unless it is either topped off; or there is an approved stick to determine EXACTLY how much fuel is in each tank.

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.