19991226042569A

(.4)The pilot reported that while en route to his destination, he noted that he forgot his approach charts. The destination airport was under instrument meteorological conditions. Therefore, the pilot attempted unsuccessfully to find a nearby airport that would allow him to land under visual conditions. While attempting to find a VFR airport, both left and right main fuel tanks ran out of fuel. The pilot estimated that he had approximately five gallons of fuel in each tip tank, and elected to initiate a precautionary landing on a highway. During the landing roll, the aircraft collided with a road marker sign. (-23)pilot made a landing on highway 95, about 13 miles south of Jordan Valley, Oregon. He had departed pocatello, Idaho at a time when he knew every airport in the area around nampa, Idaho was blanketed in dense fog. He hoped he could find a landing site near his home in nampa. He operated around the area above the fog checking for possibilities until he no longer had any options because of low fuel. His last resort was the highway and even though the highway was under fog, he could just make it out enough to attemp t a landing. As he was touching down, his right wing hit a highway marker and then his left wind hit another marker, and finally the tip of the wing struck the embankment along the side of the road. The right wing was torn open near the tip and bent at the wing root. The left wing had damage to the leading edge and an outboard rib was crushed.