What happened
On 18 April 2018, an Ikaress C42 FB80, registration G-CICG, was performing a private flight when the pilot attempted a landing at the unmanned Chilbolton Airfield. While approaching grass Runway 24, the pilot encountered a strong east-southeast crosswind. During the flare, the pilot identified a row of traffic cones on the grass ahead and initiated an aborted landing by increasing power. During this maneuver, an impact was heard.
Believing the aircraft had merely struck a cone placed to mark an unavailable runway area, the pilot diverted to Popham Airfield. Upon landing on Runway 21 at Popham, the aircraft touched down on the left mainwheel first due to a left-hand crosswind component. As the right mainwheel made contact, the landing gear leg separated from its attachment points to the airframe. This caused the aircraft to ground loop to the right, eventually coming to rest with the right wingtip on the grass. There were no injuries to the pilot.
The investigation
Investigators determined that the aircraft had indeed struck and destroyed a traffic cone at Chilbolton. The pilot, who had not landed at Chilbolton for eight months, had misidentified a strip of darker, rough ground as the runway. This error was attributed to distractions caused by ambient conditions and a failure to notice the white threshold markings.
Further examination revealed that the impact with the cone at Chilbolton had caused structural damage to the right main landing gear leg. Although the pilot did not realize the severity of the damage until after the aircraft had stopped at Popham, the structural compromise led to the gear separation during the subsequent touchdown.