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The pilot of a light sport aircraft failed to take advantage of several opportunities to assure adequate fuel on board for his round trip flight. As a result the return flight came up about 10 minutes short due to fuel starvation.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 908670 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201009 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.Airport |
| State Reference | US |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | VMC |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Light Sport Aircraft |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 91 |
| Flight Phase | Cruise |
| Flight Plan | None |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Pilot Flying Single Pilot |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Private Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Sport / Recreational |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 30 Flight Crew Total 2800 Flight Crew Type 80 |
Narrative:
Fuel starvation resulted in an emergency landing on a paved county road in a rural farming area about 17 NM from destination on a 220 NM flight. The immediate cause of the starvation was that I misread the fuel gauge due to turbulence. I believed at time of the starvation that there were at least 4 gallons usable fuel on board; which would have been sufficient to fly for about 45 minutes. The remaining time to destination when the engine quit was about 10 minutes. The root cause of the fuel starvation was my failure to check the fuel quantity at the beginning of day due to my belief that the aircraft had been fully refueled after its last flight; then my further failure to check fuel quantity before beginning my return trip due to haste; and then my further failure to properly monitor fuel enroute to destination. After starvation; I was able to easily glide to an acceptable landing site; and the emergency landing on the paved county road was uneventful. I was able to refuel and depart without further incident. There was no personal injury; no damage to the aircraft; and no damage to any ground facilities.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: The pilot of a light sport aircraft failed to take advantage of several opportunities to assure adequate fuel on board for his round trip flight. As a result the return flight came up about 10 minutes short due to fuel starvation.
Narrative: Fuel starvation resulted in an emergency landing on a paved county road in a rural farming area about 17 NM from destination on a 220 NM flight. The immediate cause of the starvation was that I misread the fuel gauge due to turbulence. I believed at time of the starvation that there were at least 4 gallons usable fuel on board; which would have been sufficient to fly for about 45 minutes. The remaining time to destination when the engine quit was about 10 minutes. The root cause of the fuel starvation was my failure to check the fuel quantity at the beginning of day due to my belief that the aircraft had been fully refueled after its last flight; then my further failure to check fuel quantity before beginning my return trip due to haste; and then my further failure to properly monitor fuel enroute to destination. After starvation; I was able to easily glide to an acceptable landing site; and the emergency landing on the paved county road was uneventful. I was able to refuel and depart without further incident. There was no personal injury; no damage to the aircraft; and no damage to any ground facilities.
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.