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.
After several days in the area, I left my Cessna 170 with the FBO with instructions to top off. When I returned, I asked for the bill and asked how many gallons the plane had taken. They said 33 gallons. I asked for them to check again. That seemed like a lot as I always plan to have 10 gallons left on landing and my records said I had only flown 3.5 hours on the tank (usually at 7.5-8 gph).
I preflighted the aircraft, checked that fuel caps were on right, tested fuel, and looked at the gauges in the wings — it seemed like they overfilled as the gauge was past the F mark.
Takeoff was uneventful to VFR on top and headed home expecting about 2 hours 20 minutes en route.
I decided along the way to change my normal route from crossing on the west side of ZZZ2 Bravo because Approach seemed really busy lately and an east transition would make the load for them less, so as I approached ZZZ3, I turned to ZZZ4 and followed the route along the mountain east of the valley.
I could not get a Class Bravo clearance as I expected, so while at 6,500, I saw I could hold that until I reached the north end of Bravo. I was about to begin descending to 4,500 when the engine went to idle. I quickly checked the controls and fuel selector and looked at engine gauges. Saw no issues other than the RPM at idle.
While over the reservoir, I banked left to head towards known airports (I was based at ZZZ5 for 20 years and knew the area.) Then I told Tracon that the engine was out. They advised either ZZZ6 or ZZZ5. I told them ForeFlight showed ZZZ5 was near the edge of my glide range and I was on my way.
They asked for souls and fuel and I reported with one and likely 26 gallons based on flight time. I trimmed the plane all the way back to best glide and was transferred to Tower. I told them my intentions and gave them my home phone number in case.
That just left me with the job of flying as I was cleared to land (anyplace) on Runway XXR. Good winds and nice glide left me at the end of Runway XXR very high, so used the 360 we are trained to use as part of our commercial training and then with a modest slip was able to place the plane on the runway with enough kinetic energy to coast onto the first taxiway.
I was greeted by fire engines and operations. Tower asked if I could move the plane and I said only if I pushed it…They said just stay there. After a tow to the FBO, we looked for the reasons for fuel exhaustion as primary cause. The gauges looked like fuel (seemed weird) but visual examination proved the tanks were empty.
Knowing I started full less than two hours before, we added fuel and searched for the leak. NONE.
I called the FBO in ZZZ and told them what happened — their investigation determined they fueled the wrong plane!
My examination of gauges (where E and F are next to each other) obviously is not enough. Nor is my timing my fueling unless I watch it go in the tanks.
Future pre-flights will include finding a ladder to visually make sure the fuel got into my plane.
I continued home, did a short flight to ZZZ7 to make sure the plane really had no issues and filled the tanks (I watched). As I left the airport, I think I was still shaken a bit.
Primary Problem: Human Factors
ACN: 2119793
