A PA-28's engine quit due to fuel exhaustion during an approach following a long flight. After switc...

Attributes
ACN	840684
Time
Date	200906
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Dusk
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	PA-28 Cherokee/Archer/Dakota/Pillan/Warrior
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Descent Initial Approach
Route In Use	Direct Visual Approach
Flight Plan	None
Component
Aircraft Component	Fuel System
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 33 Flight Crew Total 133 Flight Crew Type 133
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural FAR Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

Narrative:

While flying back home from a long distance flight a fellow pilot and I were on approach to our home airport. We were speaking to ATC at the time and had been cleared on a direct approach to the airport. While descending to the airport we encountered an engine out. When we reported a mayday the ATC controller was extremely helpful; immediately pointing out where we should go to land. We pitched for the best glide and checked to see if we could get the engine restarted. Our first assumption was that one of our fuel tanks had run out of fuel. We switched tanks and were able to restart the engine. We were then able to make it to approach for our home airport (and that of original intent); and while on final; lost our engine again. We once again recovered the engine and were able to taxi off the runway. Based on our fuel calculations we should have had enough fuel for an hour cruise.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A PA-28's engine quit due to fuel exhaustion during an approach following a long flight. After switching fuel tanks the pilot landed successfully only to have the engine quit again. An emergency was declared.

Narrative: While flying back home from a long distance flight a fellow pilot and I were on approach to our home airport. We were speaking to ATC at the time and had been cleared on a direct approach to the airport. While descending to the airport we encountered an engine out. When we reported a MAYDAY the ATC Controller was extremely helpful; immediately pointing out where we should go to land. We pitched for the best glide and checked to see if we could get the engine restarted. Our first assumption was that one of our fuel tanks had run out of fuel. We switched tanks and were able to restart the engine. We were then able to make it to approach for our home airport (and that of original intent); and while on final; lost our engine again. We once again recovered the engine and were able to taxi off the runway. Based on our fuel calculations we should have had enough fuel for an hour cruise.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.