Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Flight Instructor
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 28; Flight Crew Total 239; Flight Crew Type 239
Troubleshooting; Confusion; Human-Machine Interface
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Ground Strike - Aircraft; Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged; Flight Crew Inflight Shutdown; Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; Flight Crew Took Evasive Action; General Evacuated
Aircraft; Procedure
On a cross country from ZZZ to ZZZ1; we did 3 touch and goes at ZZZ1 and then headed back to north to ZZZ. We climbed to cruise at 8500 ft. MSL and then upon reaching our TOD we went through our descent checklist. Then; descending through 6000 ft. MSL; my student added power to slow the descent and to level off. Immediately we had engine roughness; then a rise in RPMs then another drop in RPMs. I took controls and my student read our QRC for engine problems in flight. We slowed to our VG of 73 KIAS; made sure that the fuel shut off valve was open; enriched the mixture and had the same roughness; and then rise in rpms then a drop. We double checked that the fuel pump was on; we opened the alternate air and at about this time we had low rpms and the engine almost died. Then; we turned on the boost; prime; pump and got the last rise in RPMs and then the engine stopped producing power. The propeller was windmilling from aerodynamic force. At this time we were descending through 5700 ft. and did not check the mags as we did not feel that we had enough time to do so. We followed my [forced landing] training of ABCDE. A. airspeed; get to VG (73). B. Best place to land. My student and I discussed our glide ratio and determined that we did not have enough altitude to make it to the airport; and chose a field to land in and began setting up for landing. C. Checklist we began to go through our [forced] landing checklist; D. Declare; I [requested priority handling] Aircraft X is going down in a field east of a certain highway. About this time our propeller ceased spinning. E. Execute. We completed our [forced landing] checklist items and performed a soft field landing; touching down at 55 KIAS or slower. We rolled with our nose wheel off the ground for approximately 20 paces. at approximately 260 paces from touchdown the plane rolled into a slight depression of about 2 feet down and 4 feet 6 feet wide; and rolled up the other side of the depression on an equal rise of about 2 feet at which time the front nose wheel broke from the gear and the remaining NLG strut dug into the dirt and brought us to an abrupt stop causing the plane to pitch forward onto the nose at which time the propeller spinner was slightly dented on the bottom side. The pitching motion was not enough to make us flip tail over nose and we settled back down on the main landing gear and then rolled back down into the depression. Both my student and I were wearing seat belts and shoulder restraints and were unharmed. We secured the plane and then exited the aircraft and called for assistance. We both had prepared our cross country flight plans and our estimations for our fuel burn for our flight was between 9-10 gallons. Our preflight inspection showed our dipstick with just about 12 gallons and we had our school's dispatcher add 5 gallons which would give us a comfortable safety buffer. Yet upon landing and securing the plane we stuck the plane again and found it dry. This plane is known to have its fuel gauge read 6 gallons low on the gauge; and was showing near empty; which normally means that it should've had 6 gallons left based on previous experience.
We took off from ZZZ to ZZZ1 back to ZZZ. Before the flight we checked the fuel and we had 12 gallons; on our flight plan it said that we would need approximately 8.9 gallons for the way there and back. We had our dispatcher go out to the plane and put in an extra 5 gallons; and when we visually check the tanks with the stick; it read right under 18 gallons; so probably around 17 gallons. The flight there was fine; the flight back was also ok until our descent. Before our descent we noticed that the fuel tank read 0. In a previous flight our tank read 0; but when we landed we visually checked the tank with the stick and it read 6 gallons. Coming out of decent at 6000 ft. MSL I went and put power back it. The RPMs came up as normal; then started sputtering. Immediately my instructor took controls. We enriched the mixed; cycled the throttle; and turned on the fuel prime. The engine was not going to get us there. He got the plane to our glide speed; 73 KIAS; as we quickly started doing math for whether or not we could make it to the airport to land. After some quick calculations we determined that we couldn't make it back; and we were going to have to find a field. After choosing our best place to land; we started going through [forced landing] checklists. At about 500 ft. AGL my instructor got on the radio and [advised ATC]. I then flipped to the [forced] landing checklist; ran through the steps; and then we executed the landing. We did a soft field landing keeping the nose up as long as we could; then rolled it out. All was fine until we saw a berm in the distance coming up fast. We hit the berm and the plane went up on the nose; then came right back down. We were at a complete stop; so I unbuckled quickly; opened the canopy; and back away from the plane; in fear that a fire may start. We both walked away from the accident ok. No injuries; we were wearing our seat belts; and were fine. Soon after the landing passerby's came to check on us; then 15 minutes later [medical and other officials] came to see what had happened.We made several flight plans on how much fuel should have been consumed; and kept coming to numbers around 9-10 gallons; and in the absolute worst conditions 14 gallons. Our 18 gallon load should have been plenty for us; but when we landed I visually checked the fuel with the stick; and we were completely empty.
Flight Instructor reported fuel starvation during descent resulting in a forced landing.