Date: 201212
Local time of day: 0601-1200
Location: ZZZ.Airport, US
Flight conditions: VMC
Weather elements / visibility: 20
Light: Daylight
Aircraft: Cessna 210 Centurion / Turbo Centurion 210C; 210D
Operator: Air Taxi
Operating under: Part 135
Flight plan: IFR
Mission: Cargo / Freight / Delivery
Flight phase: Descent
Airspace: Class E ZZZ
ATC / advisory: TRACON ZZZ
Aircraft component: Fuel
Reporter organization: Air Taxi
Reporter function: Single Pilot; Pilot Flying
Reporter qualification: Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Instrument
Human factors: Situational Awareness; Human-Machine Interface
Anomaly: Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Ground Event / Encounter Gear Up Landing; Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue
Detector: Person Flight Crew
When detected: In-flight
Result: Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance; Aircraft Aircraft Damaged; Flight Crew Diverted; Flight Crew Inflight Shutdown; Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; General Declared Emergency
Contributing factors: Aircraft; Human Factors
Primary problem: Ambiguous

Narrative: I ended my normal [week] run at in the early morning and had to wake up early the next morning for a flight. I did my normal pre-flight and a visual check of the fuel tanks showed full tanks on both sides; approximately 1/2 gallon short of over flowing on the left tank and full to the point of over flowing on the wing on the right tank. I made sure that the gas caps were secure on both tanks and continued my pre-flight inspection. Takeoff and en route were normal with no indications of a rough running engine or abnormal full flow. The C210 with full tanks has 90 gallon capacity with 89 gallons usable; or 534 LBS of fuel. I conducted the flight at 7;000 FT and had the fuel leaned out to 102-103 LBS per hour. I was descended to 5;000 FT about this time I began my decent/arrival checks and noticed the I had a critical fuel situation and asked ATC for the nearest airport; very soon after this my engine quit running and I saw an airfield to my southwest and told ATC that I needed that one and that I was declaring a fuel emergency. After the engine quit I performed my emergency flows and backed them up with the emergency checklist. Due to the distance to the airfield and the time it takes for the C210 main landing gear to deploy I only had time for the nose gear to fully deploy and the main to partially extend before landing. The only damage to the aircraft was a few scrapped rivets and the left horizontal stabilizer that was bent the plane rested on its left side due to being a high wing aircraft. The horizontal stabilizer was not damaged during landing; only after coming to a stop. My Maintenance Department is looking into why the aircraft had 5 hours of fuel and ran out at a little over 4 hour into the flight; but at this time they have not completed the full inspection.

Callback: Three months after the incident no determination has been made as to why the aircraft ran out of fuel prematurely.



Synopsis: C210 pilot reports departing on a four hour flight with five hours of fuel on board (full tanks). During descent the engine quits due to fuel exhaustion and a diversion to the nearest airport is initiated. Unfortunately the landing gear cannot be fully extended prior to landing.