Incident at Chilbolton Airfield
The pilot of an Ikarus C42 FB80, registration G-CICG, intended to land on grass Runway 24 at Chilbolton Airfield, an un-manned airfield. While on approach, the pilot noted a strong crosswind from the east-southeast and adopted a crabbed final approach, focusing on airspeed, wind direction, and clearance from nearby power lines. During the flare, the pilot observed a row of traffic cones on the grass ahead and aborted the landing by increasing power. As the aircraft climbed away, the pilot heard a thump and assumed a cone had been struck, which was intended to indicate the runway was unavailable. The pilot then diverted to Popham Airfield, his home base.
Landing at Popham Airfield
At Popham, Runway 21 was in use. The aircraft touched down on the left mainwheel first due to a crosswind from the left of approximately 11 kt. When the right mainwheel contacted the ground, the gear leg separated at its airframe attachment points. The aircraft then ground looped to the right, coming to rest with the right wingtip touching the grass.
Aftermath
After shutting down and vacating the aircraft, the pilot realized that the right main landing gear leg had detached because of damage sustained from striking the traffic cone at Chilbolton. Subsequent enquiries revealed that the aircraft had hit and destroyed one of several cones placed to deter pilots from using a strip of rough ground to the left of Runway 24. The pilot, who considered himself familiar with Chilbolton although he had not landed there for eight months, was aware of a color contrast between the runway and the adjacent rough ground. However, due to the ambient conditions, the pilot was distracted and misidentified the darker strip of rough ground as the runway, failing to see the white markings near the threshold.
Airfield Information
Chilbolton is an unlicensed airfield. The operator attempts to alert pilots to the presence of the rough ground in flight guides and on its website. The pilot was aware of the website but had not consulted it before the flight and had not seen a recently added photograph, labeled to show pilots what to look for when landing on Runway 24. The airfield operator referred to Runway 24 as '24L' to indicate a left-hand circuit was required and has stated an intention to review its guidance material after learning this designation could imply parallel runways.