Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172
Flight Crew Private
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 11; Flight Crew Total 97; Flight Crew Type 97
Situational Awareness
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue
Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance; Flight Crew Diverted; Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition
Human Factors; Procedure; Weather
I was Pilot In Command with one passenger making our descent on a cross country flight. It was the first time that I was flying into this airport. Although we would not be their entering airspace; I did contact ATC approach to let them know our route. Just after making my initial inbound radio call on ZZZ's CTAF the engine lost power. By pumping the throttle I could keep the engine sputtering; but only producing 1500 RPM. Once again; I made radio contact with Approach to notify them of my situation. At that point he said that ZZZ1 would be the closest airport. I mentioned that I did not have visual contact with the airport so he gave me the heading. We continued to maintain contact as he kept me informed as to how close I was to the airport. When I was 1000 feet AGL he reported that I was still 7 miles away. I still did not have visual contact with the airport and the upcoming terrain was hilly and filled with trees. Just below us I spotted a picked corn field. I notified Approach that I was going to land in the field; and he told me to contact him when we landed. As I circled around to line up for landing the engine stopped completely so I made a dead stick landing in the corn field. Neither of us were injured and there was no damage to the plane. Once we were on the ground I was unable to get Approach on the radio; so I made contact with them using my cell phone. Approach had already reported the incident and had emergency personnel on their way; who started showing up shortly. The cause of this incident was that we simply ran out of fuel. All of the flight planning that I had done suggested that we would have 10 or more extra gallons on board. I did notice that the fuel gauges were approaching empty; but my plane is older and these gauges have not always been accurate from my past experience. At that point we were also getting relatively close to our destination so I thought we would make it. In hindsight; it is obvious that I miscalculated my fuel needs during flight planning. I believe my main oversight came in part by using and relying too heavily on [web based flight planning program]. During the trip I made one landing at an airport on the way; which I had entered on the [web based flight planning program]. At the time; I assumed I was inserting a 'stop/landing' along the way; but after talking with other pilots; I think it is considered as more of a checkpoint/fly-over point. Therefore; my extra stop resulted in extra fuel burn during takeoff and climb that wasn't included in my calculations from [the web based flight planning program]. Another calculation that I believe was incorrect is the average fuel burn for my plane. During my flight training we always used 8.5 gal/hr as an average fuel burn to do a quick check for fuel numbers. Most of my flights are short local leisure flights that are maybe 1.5 hrs max; so I generally use this number to calculate my estimated fuel needs. I also know that with full fuel I will have plenty to fly these shorter local flights; so I have grown accustomed to getting in the 'ballpark' with this 8.5 gal/hr figure. As a double check; I also used the 8.5 gal/hr figure to estimate my fuel needs for this trip as well. Unfortunately; after closely reviewing fuel records and flight times; I now believe that my plane's actual average fuel burn is more like 9.5 to 10 gal/hr; which would also help explain why it ran out before the time I expected. Finally; another contributing factor to this incident could have been that we had a stronger than anticipated headwind. This extended our flight time which I noticed during flight; but I neglected to take action since we were getting close to our destination and I thought we still had another 30-40 minutes of fuel remaining based off of my previous calculations. Considering that I landed in a field 7 miles from the airport; a lesser headwind would have most likely resulted in the extra 4-5 minutes needed to reach the airport. With all that said; this incident was the result of pilot error. I miscalculated my fuel needs plain and simple. I am fortunate that this incident had a good outcome and I can now use this as a learning lesson. It has definitely shown me that accurate fuel calculations are a critical part of flight planning.
The Pilot of a C172 experienced a loss of engine power with a resulting off-field landing. Later; he discovered that it was due to fuel exhaustion caused by inaccurate preflight planning and unexpected headwinds.