Incident
The pilot executed a forced landing on a street about 1.2 miles from the airport. During the landing, the aircraft collided with trees and the center median.
Investigation
A law enforcement officer who also held a pilot certificate examined the fuel tanks at the scene. Virtually no usable fuel was found. The main fuel tanks were described as "bone dry," with only 1.75 gallons remaining in the left tip tank.
Flight Details
The pilot had planned a nearly six-hour nonstop flight from southeastern New Mexico to northern California. Approximately four hours into the flight, with two hours remaining, the airplane experienced electrical malfunctions resulting in a loss of all generated alternator power. The master electrical switch was turned off to conserve residual battery power. The pilot elected to continue the nighttime flight to the original destination without operative navigation lights or any electrically driven instruments, despite passing over numerous airports.
Pilot Actions
Periodically during the latter portion of the flight, the master switch was turned on to obtain navigation guidance information and to check the fuel quantity using the electrically driven supplemental fuel flow/quantity computer. The airplane owner, who was a passenger, expressed concern to the pilot about the validity of the fuel computer's indications because its electrical power had been interrupted. The pilot relied on the fuel quantity computer instead of the standard fuel quantity indicators to determine the amount of fuel available.