Narrative:

I departed mid-morning for the flight to sunriver. I planned to re-fuel in sunriver and continue on to 2s7. I left with a full tank of fuel (3.5 hours) which gave me a maximum range of 345 miles. I planned to fly at 6;500 ft to 8;500 ft MSL; depending on terrain. I planned to depart to the southwest (220 degrees) following the foothills of the blue mountains. Checkpoints were to be cable creek airstrip; volny long creek airstrip; various rivers and topography features and the imb VOR itself. After imb I planned to fly direct to redmond. I did not file a flight plan and the flight should have taken about 2.25 hours. I passed south of cable creek as planned and passed virtually over volny; which put me further south than intended. I never located the imb VOR and I became totally lost for the first time in my many years of flying. I passed over a river; which I thought at the time was probably the john day river. However; the topography looked different than I thought it should. I found a small town; but did not know what it was. I circled the town looking for a name and found nothing. In retrospect it may have been dayville or mt vernon. I could not locate any recognizable features. I was becoming scared and my confidence was shattered. But because I thought the river was the john day; I decided to continue southwest. I soon became further disoriented and I kept turning to the south towards what I ultimately knew would be flat country. I was by now looking for a major road to follow; hopefully a road going west which might take me to princville or redmond. What I finally found was the north-south road from john day to burns; but at the time I did not know where the road came from or where it was going. I followed that road south to the town of burns; which I did not recognize. I found the burns airport; which I did recognize. My relief was overwhelming but my disappointment at seeing the X'd runways was intense and unbelieving. I made low passes over the taxiway which I observed was not under construction and determined I could land safely. I fueled up and departed for 2s7. Lessons learned: 1) my first mistake and root of the problem was that I didn't follow the compass heading; but chose to identify totally with ground features. 2) second mistake was not following what I thought was the john day river. Had I flown east for 10 or 15 minutes I should have been able to confirm my location by finding the john day airport. 3) third mistake was having a sectional on board which is not easy to fold and unfold in a drafty open cockpit. I should have 12x12 pieces of a sectional arranged in order for my route of flight. 4) I should have had a navigation/communication hand held radio for backup. I a now purchasing one. 5) I should have spent more time on a steady compass heading rather than circling and repeated back tracking. I still do not know exactly where I was; but I obviously veered far to the south. I believe I was right in landing when I did; even though I had about 1 hour fuel remaining. To continue on could have easily led to an off-airport landing with all the attendant risks involved.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Great Lakes pilot reports becoming lost on a VFR flight over Oregon and landing at a closed airport to obtain fuel.

Narrative: I departed mid-morning for the flight to Sunriver. I planned to re-fuel in Sunriver and continue on to 2S7. I left with a full tank of fuel (3.5 hours) which gave me a maximum range of 345 miles. I planned to fly at 6;500 FT to 8;500 FT MSL; depending on terrain. I planned to depart to the southwest (220 degrees) following the foothills of the Blue Mountains. Checkpoints were to be Cable Creek airstrip; Volny Long Creek airstrip; various rivers and topography features and the IMB VOR itself. After IMB I planned to fly direct to Redmond. I did not file a flight plan and the flight should have taken about 2.25 hours. I passed south of Cable Creek as planned and passed virtually over Volny; which put me further south than intended. I never located the IMB VOR and I became totally lost for the first time in my many years of flying. I passed over a river; which I thought at the time was probably the John Day River. However; the topography looked different than I thought it should. I found a small town; but did not know what it was. I circled the town looking for a name and found nothing. In retrospect it may have been Dayville or Mt Vernon. I could not locate any recognizable features. I was becoming scared and my confidence was shattered. But because I thought the river was the John Day; I decided to continue southwest. I soon became further disoriented and I kept turning to the south towards what I ultimately knew would be flat country. I was by now looking for a major road to follow; hopefully a road going west which might take me to Princville or Redmond. What I finally found was the north-south road from John Day to Burns; but at the time I did not know where the road came from or where it was going. I followed that road south to the town of Burns; which I did not recognize. I found the Burns airport; which I did recognize. My relief was overwhelming but my disappointment at seeing the X'd runways was intense and unbelieving. I made low passes over the taxiway which I observed was not under construction and determined I could land safely. I fueled up and departed for 2S7. Lessons Learned: 1) My first mistake and root of the problem was that I didn't follow the compass heading; but chose to identify totally with ground features. 2) Second mistake was not following what I thought was the John Day River. Had I flown east for 10 or 15 minutes I should have been able to confirm my location by finding the John Day airport. 3) Third mistake was having a sectional on board which is not easy to fold and unfold in a drafty open cockpit. I should have 12x12 pieces of a sectional arranged in order for my route of flight. 4) I should have had a NAV/COM hand held radio for backup. I a now purchasing one. 5) I should have spent more time on a steady compass heading rather than circling and repeated back tracking. I still do not know exactly where I was; but I obviously veered far to the south. I believe I was right in landing when I did; even though I had about 1 hour fuel remaining. To continue on could have easily led to an off-airport landing with all the attendant risks involved.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.