This is an excerpt from a report made to the Aviation Safety Reporting System. The narrative is written by the pilot, rather than FAA or NTSB officials. To maintain anonymity, many details, such as aircraft model or airport, are often scrubbed from the reports.
Returning from a camping trip, while descending over mountains east of ZZZ near ZZZ1 the fuel low level light came on in my homebuilt. I checked the fuel and the sight gauge on the right tank showed half full indicating at least 6.5 gallons of fuel. The left tank sight gauge showed empty.
Shortly after that the fuel pressure began to fluctuate and the engine began surging. I turned on the second boost pump and moved the stick around to try and keep the engine running.
The engine continued to surge but did not quit. However the engine power was not enough to maintain altitude. I continued to descend and decided I would not make the airport.
At that time I picked an open, grass field and landed. There was no damage to the aircraft nor any injuries.
I called a friend to bring me some fuel. When he arrived I added 8 gallons to the left tank. I had help in pushing the aircraft up onto the county road at which time I started the engine and ran it up to full power. The engine ran with no adverse indications. I took off from the county road and flew to ZZZ.
I rechecked the engine operation after topping off both tanks. On my continued trip to my home field, at altitude I turned the left tank valve off. Within 8 to 10 minutes the fuel low level light would illuminate. Turning the left tank back on would extinguish the light. I will be examining the right tank fuel feed system as there could be some kind of blockage.
Primary Problem: Aircraft
ACN: 1818516
While conducting fuel flow test on my homebuilt I found something that surprise me and was somewhat disturbing. I think it is could be the same as this guys problem. I have two wing tanks feeding into a header tank. Each wing tank has an isolation valve for service or if the plane is part on a hill to keep one tank from draining into another. During testing I drained all 3 tanks closed the isolation valves and filled each wing tank with 5 gallons of gas. I locked the header tank drain open then opened the left wing tank isolation valve. I expected a steady stream of fuel but instead got a trickle, after a few minutes I finally got the fuel flow I was expecting, same for the right wing tank. Turns out when air is trapped in the line at a slight high spot (only about 3/16 higher than where the fuel line exits the tank) between the wing and header tank it blocks it just as bad as a plug of dirt.
These reports would be much more useful if the aircraft make and airport name,[ if it occurred there ] , was listed. Otherwise the reports are of little to no use.
At least it listed that this was an experimental aircraft, vs a certified a/c.
Yeah I guess so. Good thing the Good Lord was watching over you that day!