Student Pilot Forced Landing After Fuel Exhaustion (N48156)

Incident Overview A student pilot departed on a planned one-hour training flight. After practicing stalls and turns, the pilot attempted VOR tracking but became lost and disoriented. The pilot tried to determine position using ground references and sectional charts, and attempted radio contact with Flight Service Station (FSS) without success. After climbing to 6,000 feet and flying about 80 miles southeast of the departure airport, the pilot identified his location. At that point, he estimated he was one hour from his home airport and had about one and a half hours of fuel remaining. During the return flight, approximately three and a half hours after the flight began, the fuel was exhausted. The pilot made a forced landing and struck trees.