Narrative:

[I] decided to fly to a nearby airport to refuel the airplane. Performed preflight and looked in both tanks. Fuel was not visible due to being low. [I] drained some fuel out of the sump to check for water and none visible. Checked fuel gauges and they showed 1/4 tank in the right and 1/8 tank in the left. Calculated this to be 7-8 gallons and thought it would be plenty for the 5 minute flight. [I] taxied airplane to the run up area to complete pre-takeoff checks including engine run up and mag checks. Normal take off and climb to 2;000 MSL. While in cruise the engine quit. I set the airplane up for 100 mph and selected a field to land in. I made a radio call to airport traffic letting them know the situation. I turned on the fuel pumped and switched from the right tank to the left tank. The engine started back up. I turned to continue to my planned destination and the engine quit again. I selected a different field and tried to start the engine again. The engine started again and I started to fly back to my departure airport but the engine quit. I realized that I could not make it back to my departure airport. I set up for a straight in approach and landed in a hay field. Only minimal damage happened on the airplane. While sitting on the ground I turned the master switch back on and the right fuel gauge came up off empty and went to 1/8 of a tank; the left tank showed empty. I think the real problem was trusting the fuel gauges to be very accurate and not relying on other visible means. A more thorough check would have revealed that the tanks had much less fuel than originally thought. Also a calculation of the previous flights since filling up would have revealed that the fuel would be spent or very low. What also affected my decision was the fact that I was looking at a very short 5 minute flight; which did not require much fuel. While in the air trying to get the engine to restart; I should have returned back to my departure airport immediately.

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An RV8 pilot departed his airport for a nearby airport to refuel his aircraft. Enroute the engine quit because of fuel starvation and he completed a successful off airport landing.

Narrative: [I] decided to fly to a nearby airport to refuel the airplane. Performed preflight and looked in both tanks. Fuel was not visible due to being low. [I] drained some fuel out of the sump to check for water and none visible. Checked fuel gauges and they showed 1/4 tank in the right and 1/8 tank in the left. Calculated this to be 7-8 gallons and thought it would be plenty for the 5 minute flight. [I] taxied airplane to the run up area to complete pre-takeoff checks including engine run up and mag checks. Normal take off and climb to 2;000 MSL. While in cruise the engine quit. I set the airplane up for 100 MPH and selected a field to land in. I made a radio call to airport traffic letting them know the situation. I turned on the fuel pumped and switched from the right tank to the left tank. The engine started back up. I turned to continue to my planned destination and the engine quit again. I selected a different field and tried to start the engine again. The engine started again and I started to fly back to my departure airport but the engine quit. I realized that I could not make it back to my departure airport. I set up for a straight in approach and landed in a hay field. Only minimal damage happened on the airplane. While sitting on the ground I turned the master switch back on and the right fuel gauge came up off empty and went to 1/8 of a tank; the left tank showed empty. I think the real problem was trusting the fuel gauges to be very accurate and not relying on other visible means. A more thorough check would have revealed that the tanks had much less fuel than originally thought. Also a calculation of the previous flights since filling up would have revealed that the fuel would be spent or very low. What also affected my decision was the fact that I was looking at a very short 5 minute flight; which did not require much fuel. While in the air trying to get the engine to restart; I should have returned back to my departure airport immediately.

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.