An AA1B pilot planned fuel stop airport no longer sold fuel and so a further destination was chosen; but he landed safely in a field short of the second airport due to lack of fuel.

Date: 2011-05 · Aircraft: Cheetah; Tiger; Traveler AA5 Series · Phase: descent

Anomalies: deviation-discrepancy-procedural-other-unknown|inflight-event-encounter-fuel-issue

Synopsis

An AA1B pilot planned fuel stop airport no longer sold fuel and so a further destination was chosen; but he landed safely in a field short of the second airport due to lack of fuel.

Narrative

This incident occurred on a beautiful sunny morning. I was flying with one passenger to a not to distant airport. I was using Center flight following and asked them to allow me to descend to a nearby airport for fuel. That was OKed and I contacted the airport. I was informed that the airport no longer sold aviation gas from an unknown person using the radio. He suggested another not to distant airport and I put that in my GPS and turned to that heading. My ground speed went from 110 MPH to 75 MPH due to a 35 MPH head wind. About 10 miles from the airport the first fuel tank ran out. I told Center that the first fuel tank ran out and they asked me to keep them posted. About 2 miles from the airport the second fuel tank ran out. I told Center I cannot make the airport and that I would be landing in a grass field east of town. I lost contact with Center since I was on the ground. I immediately called 911 to report that this was not an emergency and told them that the airplane and people are all OK. I asked them to call the Center and report that we had landed in the grass field east of town and tell them that there were no injuries and no damage. Possible solution or to prevent recurrence: Increase VFR fuel margins from 30 minutes to 45 minutes.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.