What happened
A student pilot began a flight intended to last approximately one hour. After completing practice maneuvers including stalls and turns, the pilot transitioned to VOR tracking. During this phase of flight, the pilot became lost and disoriented.
In an attempt to regain situational awareness, the pilot utilized sectional charts and ground references to determine his position. The pilot also attempted to establish radio contact with Flight Service Station (FSS) but was unsuccessful. After climbing to 6,000 feet and traveling approximately 80 miles southeast of the departure airport, the pilot was still unable to make contact with FSS, though he did eventually identify his location.
At the time the pilot identified his position, he estimated that the home airport was one hour away and calculated that there was approximately one and a single half hours of fuel remaining in the aircraft. Approximately 3 hours and 30 minutes after the flight began, the aircraft experienced fuel exhaustion. The pilot subsequently performed a forced landing, during which the aircraft struck trees. There were no injuries reported.