CHARTER PLT OF AN SMA RELIED ON FUEL QUANTITY INFO FROM COMPANY OPS INSTEAD OF PHYSICALLY VERIFYING THE AMOUNT OF FUEL ON BOARD. THE OUTCOME OF THE FLT INVOLVED A FORCED LNDG DUE TO FUEL EXHAUSTION.

Narrative

I WAS ON A RETURN LEG OF A FLT FROM GAINSVILLE; FL; TO ST PETERSBURG; FL. THE WX THAT DAY WAS LOW OVCST AND IFR. AS I WAS NEARING BKV; ENRTE TO SPG MY ENG STARTED TO RUN ROUGH TO THE POINT WHERE IT WOULDN'T RUN ANYMORE. SUSPECTING WATER FROM THE HVY RAIN WHICH I WAS FLYING IN; I SWITCHED FUEL TANKS. THE ENG RAN NORMAL AFTER THAT POINT FOR ABOUT 60 SECONDS; AFTER WHICH IT HAPPENED AGAIN. NOW I HAD ABSOLUTELY NO PWR. KNOWING OF MY POS RELATIVE TO BKV; I ASKED TPA APCH FOR HELP FINDING THE ARPT. I DECLARED AN EMER TO RECEIVE THE CTLR'S FULL ATTN; AND AFTER HE TOLD ME I WAS ONLY 4 MI FROM BKV ARPT I FELT RELIEVED. I CONTINUED TO GLIDE DOWN; FOLLOWING HIS INSTRUCTIONS; TOTALLY IN IMC. I BROKE OUT OF THE WX ABOUT 300-500 FT AGL OVER BKV IN A STEEP SPIRAL AND MADE A VERY SAFE LNDG. AFTER I EXITED THE AIRPLANE TO CHK FOR FUEL CONTAMINATION I THEN REALIZED WHAT HAD HAPPENED. THAT MORNING I WAS MISINFORMED OF MY FUEL AMOUNT FROM MY OPS. THINKING THE ENTIRE DAY THAT I HAD 30 GALS MORE THAN I ACTUALLY HAD. I RAN OUT OF FUEL OVER BKV WHICH WAS A RESULT OF AN IFR DEP WITHOUT THE REQUIRED FUEL PLUS 45 MINS RESERVE.