20040514007649A

(-23) Aircraft N3260W departed on a no flight plan trip from kimrey airport (7NC6), a grass airstrip with no fuel availability near mebane, NC enroute to michael j. smithfield airport (mrh) at beaufort, NC. The pilot felt that the fuel gauges were unreliable and used a home made dipstick to dip the gas tanks, with a reported 35 gallons total on board. From prior flights, the pilot estimated that 17 gallons of fuel was all that would be required to make the trip to mrh. A new engine had recently been installed with instructions to operate it with the mixture in the full rich setting during the break-in period, so the flight was conducted with the mixture set in this position. Unexpected additional headwinds were also encountered at the cruising altitude of 5,500 feet. While operating on fuel from the left main tank, the engine sputtered and quit, at this point after checking the fuel gauges, the pilot switched to the right main tank and called ATC at cherry point, NC for flight following to Craven county airport (ewn) at New Bern, NC. After approximately three minutes of operation on the right tank, the engine began sputtering and quit, the pilot then switched the fuel selector to each of the four tanks individually but was unable to restart the engine. The pilot then established a 100MPH glide and proceeded through his engine failure check list. New Bern tower had authorized an emergency landing on any runway and had alerted the airport fire and rescue vehicles. During his descent the pilot raised his flaps from the approach setting to zero which resulted in a greater sink rate. Unable to make the runway, N3260W contacted the downhill side of a knoll at 100 mph, and bounced 195FT where it severely contacted the ground and stopped well short of runway 4. The pilot was uninjured. He readily admits that the engine was running fine when it quit and that he ran out of fuel. The pilot had over flown several airports where additional fuel could have been purchased. He was most cooperative and would like to avail himself of the FAA remedial training program. The on-site investigation revealed that the fuel gauges showed empty and a visual check of the tanks verified that there was only one or two cups of fuel in the right main tank. There was no evidence of fuel leaks and the ground under and around the aircraft was dry. The fuel tank selector was in the left main tank position. The aircraft sustained substantial damage, including the removal of both main gear and the collapse of the nose gear. Both wings were severely buckled, the propeller bent and it sustained various damage to the fuselage.