Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Instrument
Air Traffic Control Military 13; Flight Crew Last 90 Days 3; Flight Crew Total 384.4; Flight Crew Type 37.8
Human-Machine Interface
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue
Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; General Maintenance Action
Human Factors; Aircraft
The flight where this incident happened was a night VFR cross-country from ZZZ to ZZZ; as the final leg of a cross country flight along the route of ZZZ-ZZZ1-ZZZ2-ZZZ; which was being conducted for the purpose of instrument proficiency for me; using a view-limiting device while accompanied by a safety pilot.  Flight planning indicated that we had sufficient fuel for this mission; and indeed; I have flown this route several times with no issues in other similar aircraft.  I was using planned fuel burn of 10 gph; in accordance with performance charts for [this make/model]; such as the one we were flying.  We checked fuel state prior to the flight both on the gauges; as well as by visual verification on both tanks (both myself and my safety pilot) during the pre-flight inspection.  Both tanks were visually noted by both of us as being above the tabs.  The flight proceeded uneventfully until the final leg from ZZZ2 to ZZZ.  Approximately halfway between the two airports; at an altitude of 6;500 MSL (a little over 3 hours into the flight); the engine developed roughness; then sputtered and quit.  We had just changed tanks approximately 2 minutes prior; and I had adjusted the mixture slightly; so I immediately applied full rich mixture; turned the electric fuel pump on; and switched the tanks back.  The engine caught almost immediately; and I was able to initiate a full power climbing turn in order to remain near the town of ABC; which I knew had an airport; just in case the engine quit again; since we didn't know the reason for the engine stoppage.  After about 2 minutes or less; the engine quit again; and I pitched for best glide; and began searching for the airport; which we initially had difficulty doing; due to the obscuration of the airfield beacon by trees when approaching from the south.  We attempted to use the CTAF to turn the runway lights up; and eventually were able to do so; and spotted the runway.  Upon identifying my landing site; I then had my safety pilot read the emergency checklist for engine failure; while I performed the action items.  We were unable to affect a restart.  We then attempted to contact ZZZ Approach (just as this happened; ZZY Approach had handed us off to ZZZ; but before we could establish radio contact; the engine had quit the first time).  Unable to reach Approach on the radio; we squawked 7700 on the transponder; then prepared for an emergency landing.  We easily had the altitude to make the field; so I utilized S-turns and a forward slip to bleed off altitude for a straight-in approach to RWYXX.  We landed safely; (a textbook short field landing) and egressed the aircraft.  We could hear sirens as emergency responders from the city of ABC; both fire and police (having been notified by ATC) were en-route to our location.  I notified approach via cell phone that we were safe on deck (all personnel on board; as well as the aircraft); and the first responders assisted with towing the aircraft to a parking area.  Upon inspecting the aircraft afterwards; we discovered that both tanks were completely empty (both fuel tanks were still reading approximately 1/4 tank on the gauges when the engine first quit; and the left tank gauge continued to show this fuel state even after landing).  According to pre-flight planning; we should have had about 1.2 hours of fuel remaining at that point of the flight; which would have allowed us to make it back to ZZZ and have our legal VFR night fuel reserve plus some; so this gauge reading seemed reasonable at the time (although I have never entirely trusted fuel gauges in aircraft; and this incident has greatly deepened that distrust)!My understanding is that the owner will be doing an inspection in the next few days to confirm that there are no fuel leaks or other issues that might have contributed to running out of fuel early.  Assuming that no mechanical issues are found at that time; I believe that the following factors are involved:(1) For some reason I thought that fuel at the tabs on this plane was X gallons (Y per side); but I later found that in this aircraft it is Z gallons (A gallons per side out of a Y gallon tank).  A contributing factor for this may have been that most of my recent flight time has been in a [different model] for which tabs are indeed Y per side.  I may have confused this with the Y gallons per side TOTAL for this aircraft for full tanks; not tabs.  (2) It is possible that this aircraft was burning a lot more than 10 gph.  I was told afterwards that the aircraft burns more like 15 gph average if you are performing a lot of pattern work (and we had conducted 4 instrument approaches prior to heading home on the final leg).  None of the [aircraft] publications that I have substantiate this type of fuel burn for an IO360 engine; but if so; than that would partly explain why we ran out of fuel early.  I am not aware of whether this aircraft has any performance modifications that would increase fuel burn.  A 15 gph burn rate; even for a short time; would definitely run us out much sooner than expected.Thankfully we were able to safely land engine-out at this small rural airfield; especially given that this happened at night in an airplane that I was relatively unfamiliar with.  This incident reinforces the value of proper pre-flight planning and ensuring that accurate information is available in terms of fuel burn as well as fuel tank size; even when operating in the local area on a fairly short flight in terms of distance between points.  It also reinforces the value of cruising at higher altitudes when over rugged terrain; especially at night.  Lastly; it shows the importance of staying proficient at all aspects of an engine-out emergency.  My thanks to all that assisted; from the approach controllers; to the first responders; as well as my safety pilot.
PA28 pilot on a night training flight reported the engine stopped working and they made a successful engine-out landing at an airport. Post flight inspection revealed the engine failure resulted from fuel exhaustion.