C177 PLT RAN OUT OF FUEL; AND HAD A NIGHT; FORCED LNDG ON A HWY.

Narrative

BEFORE I LEFT ON A VFR NIGHT FLT FROM ORANGEBURG MUNICIPAL ARPT (OGB) TO ALLENDALE COUNTY ARPT (88J); I UNTIED THE AIRPLANE AND MOVED IT AWAY FROM OTHERS TIED ON THE GRASS PARKING AREA; WHERE I USED A RULER TO 'STICK THE TANKS.' A READING OF ROUGHLY 2 INCHES PER TANK; FULL BEING 7 INCHES. I CALCULATED ABOUT 12 GALLONS TOTAL FUEL ON BOARD. I HAVE FLOWN THIS RTE MANY TIMES DAY AND NIGHT AND AVERAGE ABOUT A 20 MIN FLT. THE ACFT BURNS 10 GPH AND I FLT PLAN CALCULATING 12 GPH. I CONCLUDED 1 HR OF FUEL ON BOARD. AL OTHER PREFLT AND RUN-UP WERE NORMAL. WITH CALM WINDS; I TOOK OFF ON RWY 23 AND TURNED ON COURSE 222 DEGS; CLBED TO 1700 FT; THROTTLE BACK; ADJUSTED PROP; PITCH; MIXTURE FOR CRUISE AT 1500 FT. JUST S OF THE TOWN OF BAMBERG; THE ENG SPUTTERED. I SWITCHED THE AUX FUEL PUMP ON. ENG PWR WAS ONLY MOMENTARILY RESTORED. SWITCHING FROM BOTH TO L OR R TANKS MADE NO IMPROVEMENT. I STARTED A SLIGHT BANK TURN BACK TO BAMBERG ARPT WHILE ENTERING 99 N ON GPS FOR HWY 301; WHICH PARALLELS MY RTE OF FLT. I XMITTED ON 122.8 MHZ TO ALLENDALE UNICOM MY POS AND SIT AND INTENTIONS. AS I TUNED IN 121.5 MHZ AND XMITTED A SIMILAR DISTRESS CALL; I SPOTTED ONE CAR'S TAIL LIGHTS TRAVELING SBOUND; WHICH I FOLLOWED TO AN UNEVENTFUL LNDG ON A DESERTED RURAL DIVIDED HWY (US301); TAXIED TO A PAVED MEDIAN; TURNED THE PLANE 45 DEGS TO LESSEN THE EXPOSED WINGTIPS TO EITHER DIRECTION OF TFC; XMITTED ON 121.5 THAT I WAS DOWN AND SAFE. HERE I WAITED FOR 15 MINS WITH NAV AND STROBES ON UNTIL A FIRE FIGHTER AND DEPUTY SHERIFF ARRIVED. GUESSING AT FUEL QUANTITY ON AN UNEVEN SURFACE; EVEN FOR SHORT TRIPS; WAS NOT VERY THOUGHTFUL FLT PLANNING. I WAS VERY LUCKY; NO PROPERTY OR PHYSICAL DAMAGE OCCURRED.