A C152 pilot reported a rough running engine on final and after landing discovered that both fuel ta...

Attributes
ACN	947599
Time
Date	201105
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Cessna 152
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	VFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Fuel System
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Private Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 50 Flight Crew Total 600 Flight Crew Type 50
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue

Narrative:

I was doing a cross country flight. I did not top off the fuel tanks before leaving. (The aircraft was topped off prior to the previous flight which was 1 hour and 18 minutes.) en route; about 5 NM south of my destination; the engine started to run rough. I turned on the carburetor heat thinking that it was carburetor ice. The engine began to run normal again after about a minute. [I] looked at the fuel gauges; which both showed above empty. I was cleared to land [and] did not request assistance; but tower had the fire trucks come out since I told tower that my engine was shaking. I landed and the fire trucks followed me to the FBO. I refueled at FBO who put in 26.8 gallons. When I heard this I realized that the rough engine may have been caused by fuel exhaustion. To prevent this in the future I will plan my fuel calculations more carefully and carry as much fuel on board as possible.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A C152 pilot reported a rough running engine on final and after landing discovered that both fuel tanks were essentially empty after a cross country training flight.

Narrative: I was doing a cross country flight. I did not top off the fuel tanks before leaving. (The aircraft was topped off prior to the previous flight which was 1 hour and 18 minutes.) En route; about 5 NM south of my destination; the engine started to run rough. I turned on the carburetor heat thinking that it was carburetor ice. The engine began to run normal again after about a minute. [I] looked at the fuel gauges; which both showed above empty. I was cleared to land [and] did not request assistance; but Tower had the fire trucks come out since I told Tower that my engine was shaking. I landed and the fire trucks followed me to the FBO. I refueled at FBO who put in 26.8 Gallons. When I heard this I realized that the rough engine may have been caused by fuel exhaustion. To prevent this in the future I will plan my fuel calculations more carefully and carry as much fuel on board as possible.

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.