Engine failure shortly after takeoff resulted in an off airport landing in a searey. No damage or in...

Narrative:

On departure from the airport the engine quit. An off airport landing was made in a field just beyond the end of runway 27. Investigation of the cause found no usable fuel in the tank. There was no damage to the airplane and the pilot was not injured. Both flew again within an hour. The aircraft had just come out of an extensive up-grade. Prior to the work; the fuel tank was filled to capacity and a fuel stabilizer was added.the work took eight months to complete. After the work was done; three experienced searey pilots/builders/mechanics inspected the aircraft prior to flight. The fuel gauge showed full. The fuel tank had a sight gauge on it that had yellowed over the repair period. It did not show any fuel level; consistent with the tank being full (or; as was the case; having less than three gallons). The fuel tank could not be checked with a stick due to the fill line configuration. The fuel sump and gascolater were checked prior to flight and had fuel. As the owner and pilot; I saw what I expected to see when I checked the fuel prior to flight. So did the other inspectors. Most of the time; the fuel is monitored with the electronic gauge; sight gauge and confirmed through fueling records. In this case; because of the passage of time; the fueling record was not critically confirmed. This could have been done by adding fuel to full capacity and observing fuel in the filler line.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Engine failure shortly after takeoff resulted in an off airport landing in a SeaRey. No damage or injuries were reported. No usable fuel was found in the fuel tank during investigation of the incident.

Narrative: On departure from the airport the engine quit. An off airport landing was made in a field just beyond the end of Runway 27. Investigation of the cause found no usable fuel in the tank. There was no damage to the airplane and the pilot was not injured. Both flew again within an hour. The aircraft had just come out of an extensive up-grade. Prior to the work; the fuel tank was filled to capacity and a fuel stabilizer was added.The work took eight months to complete. After the work was done; three experienced SeaRey pilots/builders/mechanics inspected the aircraft prior to flight. The fuel gauge showed full. The fuel tank had a sight gauge on it that had yellowed over the repair period. It did not show any fuel level; consistent with the tank being full (or; as was the case; having less than three gallons). The fuel tank could not be checked with a stick due to the fill line configuration. The fuel sump and gascolater were checked prior to flight and had fuel. As the owner and pilot; I saw what I expected to see when I checked the fuel prior to flight. So did the other inspectors. Most of the time; the fuel is monitored with the electronic gauge; sight gauge and confirmed through fueling records. In this case; because of the passage of time; the fueling record was not critically confirmed. This could have been done by adding fuel to full capacity and observing fuel in the filler line.

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.

Attributes
ACN	953475
Time
Date	201106
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
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	Takeoff
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	None
Component
Aircraft Component	Fuel System
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Sea
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 50 Flight Crew Total 8000 Flight Crew Type 3000
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue

Engine failure shortly after takeoff resulted in an off airport landing in a searey. No damage or injuries were reported. No usable fuel was found in the fuel tank during investigation of the incident.