Narrative:

On a solo flight to lkr lancaster county airport; flying VFR; I encountered several heavy rain showers. When I left I had approximately 38 gallons of fuel for a 2 hour flight; which would have given me approximately 1 hour reserve fuel. I flew around some intense rain showers; about 5 or 6. I had lost my location and was disoriented. I circled the area and was not able to recognize anything around me. I knew; or thought; I needed to go west and north. I then flew for approximately 30 minutes and realized I was running low on fuel with the situation I was in and felt this was becoming an emergency very quickly. I saw what I thought was an airport and headed toward it. As I got closer I found it was an airport. I was not able to identify what airport it was; but saw what I believed was possibly a control tower. There was considerable construction around the tower. I circled the tower about 3 times looking for a light or some indication that the tower was open. I did not see any aircraft traffic around the field; but saw a hangar door open and thought this would be a safe place to land; get fuel; and reorganize myself. When I landed and taxied to the hangar. I was greeted by a person that told me I needed to call the tower and helped me with the telephone number. The fuel truck filled my aircraft with 36 gallons of fuel. The aircraft holds 48 gallons; which meant I had about 12 gallons fuel left and about 1 hour flight time left. I did not realize the field was open; nor did I know where I was. I felt with minimum fuel on board and with the weather; this was my best option.something to avoid in the future: don't become complacent when flying cross-country even if you have flown the route before. Some things to be considered: 1) I have contacted an instructor for additional training in the aircraft and cross-country procedures.2) plan a better flight plan.3) more local time in aircraft before cross-country.4) understand and better use of equipment on aircraft.suggestions: possibly mark field identifiers; such as lkr and sms on the runway for better identifiers during flight.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: PA28 pilot reports getting lost on a trip to LKR while deviating around weather. The reporter lands at the first airport he encounters when fuel becomes an issue.

Narrative: On a solo flight to LKR Lancaster County Airport; flying VFR; I encountered several heavy rain showers. When I left I had approximately 38 gallons of fuel for a 2 hour flight; which would have given me approximately 1 hour reserve fuel. I flew around some intense rain showers; about 5 or 6. I had lost my location and was disoriented. I circled the area and was not able to recognize anything around me. I knew; or thought; I needed to go west and north. I then flew for approximately 30 minutes and realized I was running low on fuel with the situation I was in and felt this was becoming an emergency very quickly. I saw what I thought was an airport and headed toward it. As I got closer I found it was an airport. I was not able to identify what airport it was; but saw what I believed was possibly a Control Tower. There was considerable construction around the Tower. I circled the Tower about 3 times looking for a light or some indication that the Tower was open. I did not see any aircraft traffic around the field; but saw a hangar door open and thought this would be a safe place to land; get fuel; and reorganize myself. When I landed and taxied to the hangar. I was greeted by a person that told me I needed to call the Tower and helped me with the telephone number. The fuel truck filled my aircraft with 36 gallons of fuel. The aircraft holds 48 gallons; which meant I had about 12 gallons fuel left and about 1 hour flight time left. I did not realize the field was open; nor did I know where I was. I felt with minimum fuel on board and with the weather; this was my best option.Something to avoid in the future: don't become complacent when flying cross-country even if you have flown the route before. Some things to be considered: 1) I have contacted an instructor for additional training in the aircraft and cross-country procedures.2) Plan a better flight plan.3) More local time in aircraft before cross-country.4) Understand and better use of equipment on aircraft.Suggestions: possibly mark field identifiers; such as LKR and SMS on the runway for better identifiers during flight.

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.