Event Details
A pilot was conducting a cross-country flight when he became disoriented and misidentified the airport he intended to land at with another airport located approximately 9 miles away. Both airports shared the same runway alignment and Unicom frequency. The pilot performed a short field approach to runway 02. He landed about one-third of the way down the runway, which was 2,097 feet long and covered with snow and patchy ice. The pilot stated that he "landed longer down the runway than he would have liked, and that was part of the problem."
Pilot's Actions
During the landing roll-out, the pilot avoided hard braking due to the runway conditions. As the airplane came over a rise, he noticed a snow bank located at the end of the runway and decided to abort the landing. With less than half of the runway length remaining, the pilot applied power and attempted to establish a climb, but was unable to clear the trees. The pilot reported that there were no mechanical deficiencies with the aircraft. He also reported that the accident could have been prevented by "strict adherence to the flight plan...use of multiple characteristics to identify rural airports...[and] more precise execution of short-field procedure."
Aircraft Performance
A review of the Piper PA-28-180 takeoff performance charts indicated that the airplane would have needed approximately 1,625 feet to take off over a 50-foot obstacle on a paved, level, dry runway in zero wind conditions with 25 degrees of flaps extended and full power applied before brake release.