Narrative:

Giving a routine instrument flight lesson with a student. After takeoff we went to our intermediate destination; got vectored for the approach; went missed and held as published. We executed two turns in the hold and then asked approach control for another ILS. Shortly thereafter the GPS self timer messaged us to change fuel tanks. I had the student change the fuel tank. I verified that the fuel tank had been changed to the proper tank. We then continued the flight to our next destination. There we were cleared for the approach. A few moments later the airplane began to shake and vibrate and then it momentarily ran smooth. I instructed my student to switch fuel tanks and I verified the mixture and throttle were both full forward as well as turning on the fuel pump. The engine then again began to shake and lost considerable power. I then took the controls; and notified ATC that we were experiencing engine troubles. The engine continued to vibrate and lose power; and I then informed ATC that we may not 'make the field' and I was declaring an emergency. I set the airplane up to fly over a toll road so that I could try to land the plane there; however I then noticed several cars and other obstacles that could endanger the landing. I then informed ATC that I would land a field next to the toll way. I set the plane up in the landing configuration and executed a soft field landing. No one was hurt; and no property damage or aircraft damage occurred during the landing. After the landing; I secured the aircraft and turned the fuel selector to the off position. After the landing I noticed the left fuel indicator was reading empty. I then visually looked into the tank and saw only a little bit of fuel in the tank. After the flight I found out that the student did have concerns about the amount of fuel in the tanks and asked another flight instructor about the fuel level in the left tank. The instructor informed the student to either get gas or only use the right tank. The student said he understood and would do that. When I asked the student about the fuel situation before the flight; his only response was that the fuel was 'good to go'.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A PA28 instructor and student suffered an engine failure due to apparent fuel starvation.

Narrative: Giving a routine instrument flight lesson with a student. After takeoff we went to our intermediate destination; got vectored for the approach; went missed and held as published. We executed two turns in the hold and then asked Approach Control for another ILS. Shortly thereafter the GPS self timer messaged us to change fuel tanks. I had the student change the fuel tank. I verified that the fuel tank had been changed to the proper tank. We then continued the flight to our next destination. There we were cleared for the approach. A few moments later the airplane began to shake and vibrate and then it momentarily ran smooth. I instructed my student to switch fuel tanks and I verified the mixture and throttle were both full forward as well as turning on the fuel pump. The engine then again began to shake and lost considerable power. I then took the controls; and notified ATC that we were experiencing engine troubles. The engine continued to vibrate and lose power; and I then informed ATC that we may not 'make the field' and I was declaring an emergency. I set the airplane up to fly over a Toll Road so that I could try to land the plane there; however I then noticed several cars and other obstacles that could endanger the landing. I then informed ATC that I would land a field next to the toll way. I set the plane up in the landing configuration and executed a soft field landing. No one was hurt; and no property damage or aircraft damage occurred during the landing. After the landing; I secured the aircraft and turned the fuel selector to the OFF position. After the landing I noticed the LEFT fuel indicator was reading empty. I then visually looked into the tank and saw only a little bit of fuel in the tank. After the flight I found out that the student did have concerns about the amount of fuel in the tanks and asked another flight instructor about the fuel level in the left tank. The instructor informed the student to either get gas or ONLY use the right tank. The student said he understood and would do that. When I asked the student about the fuel situation before the flight; his only response was that the fuel was 'good to go'.

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.