20010519016099I

(-23) Pilot's statement: on Saturday, may 19, 2001, I acted as pilot in command of the saratoga for a flight that originated at kbwi and was to terminate at korh, worcester, MA. I received at least two briefings, an outlook briefing the night before after the 8:00 pm reports were available and a standard briefing in the morning. I believe both briefings were conducted by altoona fss. After reviewing the weather, particularly the radar at signature flight service at baltimore, I preflighted the aircraft, noting no problems. It was fully fueled, and we began the flight with four passengers, my, wife, my daughter and my elderly father. The flight was planned for a little less than two hours as routed. Between cedar lake and coyle, I received a rerouting from ATC, that had no effect on the flight until passing jfk. The read back was accepted and I proceeded to coyle VORTAC. At the time the conditions were smooth, undercast and overcast and indeterminate visibility. At approximately 40 minutes into the flight, I say that while the alternator lamp was not on, the meter read 0. I then immediately tried to reset the alternator. When that had no effect, I reviewed the emergency chec k list for electrical failure. I then shed load, leaving on only com 1, and tried both the alternator switch and the circuit breaker. Again there was no change in the meter. At this point the overhead speaker, which was not being used, began to issue loud static, and resetting the phone/speaker switches had no effect. I then called atlantic city approach, which was then controlling me, and issued an emergency report. I only heard intermittent sound, and could not determine whether my report was received. I then retrieved my handheld KX99 and garmin GPS iii, and attempted to contact atlantic city on their last two frequencies without being able to confirm they had received my report of the situation and my intentions. Although com 1 lit up intermittently, I assumed it was ineffective and I shut down all power with the master switch. I had determined from the IFR chart that cmx, Toms River was approximately five minutes away and had a runway of more than 5000'. I placed the airport in the GPS "direct to" field, and descended through the cloud layers trying to maintain VMC as much as possible. When ileveled out under the last layer, I was at approximately 1100' MSL, and clo se to the overcast. I called both atlantic city and UNICOM, toggling between them. Within a mile or two I had the airport in sight, and reviewed the checklist for emergency gear extension. Without flaps, I slowed to 120 knots, approximately 3 miles from the airport and tried the battery switch and normal extension, with no light indications. I unlocked the emergency extension and pulle the extender two or three times. I could not determine whether the gear was down. Since there was no tower available to see the gear, and my calls to UNICOM were never responded to in an intelligible way, I slowed the aircraft as much as possible, and landed the aircraft. I could only be sure the gear wasn't extended over the runway in the last 2 feet. At that point, I raised the nose and slowed the plane as much as possible. Ground contact took place perhaps 500' to 1000' down the runway and the plane skidded approximately 500' before stopping on the runway. I assisted the passengers in exiting the airplane, and determined that there was no fuel leak and the damage appeared limited to the propeller tips and the underside of the fuselage. I cancelled the IFR plan as soon as I reached the fb o, and then made a report to you and to the local police who appeared on the scene.