ERA26LA171

Before departing on the cross-country flight, the pilot observed that the airplane’s fuel tanks were nearly full. He planned the flight to be flown at 5,500 ft mean sea level (msl), but after departing he deviated from that altitude and the planned course multiple times throughout the flight, which included enrichening the fuel to air ratio when operating at lower altitudes and then climbing to higher altitudes after descending. Both of those actions resulted in increased fuel consumption beyond what the pilot had originally planned, in addition to increasing the total flight duration. About 3 hours and 10 minutes into the flight, as the pilot approached the destination airport, the pilot described that the engine “sputtered” before losing power completely. The pilot subsequently performed a forced landing to a road, resulting in substantial damage to the airplane’s fuselage and wings. Following the accident, the pilot reported that he could have made a precautionary landing earlier in the flight to account for the deviations from his original flight plan. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed both of its fuel tanks were intact, displaying no evidence of leakage. The left fuel tank was absent of fuel while ¼-gallon more than the usable quantity of fuel was recovered from the right fuel tank. With electrical power applied, both fuel gauges indicated a quantity that was below empty. A cursory examination of the engine revealed that the crankshaft rotated freely with no evidence of binding and minor damage to the propeller blades. Given this information, it is likely that during the flight, and as a result of the unplanned altitude and course changes performed by the pilot, the airplane’s fuel consumption and the total flight duration was greater than the pilot had anticipated, which resulted in fuel exhaustion and the subsequent total loss of engine power.