Caravan 208B pilot reported a fuel exhaustion event shortly after instructing the skydivers to exit the plane. The pilot descended with the prop feathered and engine off safely to the ground and was able to exit on to a taxiway with the plane's own momentum.

Narrative

While flying for a skydive company out of airfield on Location X; I was on my 9th load of the day; and my last flight before refueling. The loads are roughly 20 minutes in length and we take the jumpers up to 14000 ft. Between each flight I have a flow that I go through every single time while passengers are loading onto the plane. This flow always ends with checking the fuel levels to ensure there is a sufficient amount. I have a hard rule never to takeoff under 150 lbs per side on this airplane. My quantity was sitting at around 170 a side. It was a very windy day with winds at about 27 KTS from the east. The other skydive company was ahead of me and so I held at 10;000 ft for about 10 minutes while they made a few passes on their jump run. Usually we only have to hold behind each other for a couple minutes before giving our 5 minutes to jumpers notice; but on this day it was close to 10 minutes as the other company was hesitant to jump based on wind speeds. I noted that the tanks looked much lower than they did on the ground and were getting close to the empty mark. While paying close attention to my fuel level now; I wasn't too concerned as I have seen this airplane go even below the E mark numerous times with other pilots flying. The angle of climb was what I suspected the different reading from on the ground to be attributed to. Once I got to 11;500 ft; the 'Fuel reservoir low' light came on. I knew this meant I had 90 seconds of fuel left and so I switched on the fuel boost switch and immediately pointed the aircraft toward the drop zone so that the jumpers could exit the plane safely. I also leveled the plane off and reduced engine power. After about a minute and a half the engine started sputtering and sure enough we lost power. I feathered the prop and instructed the jumpers to get out of the plane. There was plenty of altitude and we were actually very close to where they normally disembark anyway. I instructed them out early however because the other skydive company had dropped jumpers from 3000 ft above me only two minutes prior. I wanted to give everyone as much space from each other and the plane as possible. Everyone made it back to the drop zone except one jumper who landed at the park across the street. I descended the airplane with the prop feathered and the engine off safely to the ground and was able to get off onto a taxiway with the planes own momentum. I was at a loss as to how this could have happened as I consider myself a very cautious and safe pilot. It is on a daily basis that I get to this fuel level before refueling so I was scratching my head as to why this day was different. I considered a misreading on the ground. I considered a gauge error. I considered the wind speeds and as well as holding behind the other company. The plane had just come back from its 100 hour inspection a week prior; and after this event our other pilot told me he's noticed he can only get 6 loads out of the plane now before having to refuel; assuming it is filled to our standard 650 lbs a side (as opposed to our pretty consistent 9 loads). He also noted that fuel flow on climb is now sitting around 550 pph as opposed to what it was before at around 460 pph. I too have since noticed the change. Maintenance has done a couple run ups and some fuel gauge checks and can not find anything wrong. As the PIC I take responsibility for the incident and it has been a humbling experience. I have been with the company for over a year now and always thought my minimums were conservative and safe. My new minimums have gone up to 200 lbs a side; and I am going to be much more aware of wind speeds as well as if there are other airplanes flying that day. I feel this event has made me a better pilot on a number of levels and I do not ever intend to find myself in this situation again. If there are ever any doubts on fuel level I will promptly return to the airport; or I will not take off in the first place.