Incident Overview
On September 20, 2014, at around 10:05 Japan Standard Time, a Cessna 172P registered JA4184, operated by New Central Airservice Co., Ltd., experienced a serious incident at Hyakuri Airfield in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. The aircraft attempted to land on a closed runway (03R) while the pilot believed it was the active runway (03L). The incident resulted in no injuries or damage to the aircraft.
Flight History
The aircraft took off from Ryugasaki Airfield at approximately 09:18 to participate in the 'Sky Day' event at Hyakuri Airfield. After a previous landing and boarding of passengers, the aircraft departed at 09:59 for a sightseeing flight. The pilot was cleared to land on runway 03L and read back the clearance. During the approach, the pilot noticed that runway 03L, paved with asphalt, appeared dim and blended into the background, while the parallel runway 03R, made of concrete, was clearly white. The pilot mistakenly assumed the visible white runway was 03L and the taxiway ahead was 03R. The pilot aimed for the touchdown zone markings to allow efficient taxi to the apron.
Investigation Findings
The controller noticed the aircraft aligning with the closed runway 03R and instructed a go-around at around 10:05, when the aircraft was at approximately 200 ft altitude. The pilot executed the go-around and was told that he was landing on 03R, but did not immediately understand. After climbing to 500 ft and turning right, the pilot realized his mistake. The aircraft then landed safely on runway 03L at around 10:08.
The investigation found that runway 03R was closed from 09:37 to 10:33 for inspection of a barrier net. The pilot had previous experience at the airfield and was aware of the possibility of runway misidentification. The analysis indicated that the pilot likely misidentified the runways due to an assumption based on visibility differences and a focus on optimizing the landing for the sightseeing flight schedule.
Probable Cause
It is highly probable that this serious incident was caused by the fact that the captain misidentified the closed 03R that was clearly seen from distance with the difference in visibility of the paralleled runways at the Airfield as 03L cleared to land by assumption. Regarding the captain did not notice the misidentification of runways, it is somewhat likely that the captain gazed at the landing point to effectively perform the sightseeing flight and was unable to find the runway cleared to land.