What happened
On the evening of March 27, 2001, at approximately 20:35 local time, a Piper PA 31 T, registration OE-FKG, was taxiing for departure at Strasbourg-Entzheim Airport. The aircraft, operated for private purposes, was performing a flight from Melun to Paris following a previous leg from Linz, Austria.
After being cleared to line up behind a landing aircraft on runway 05, the pilot began the taxi maneuver. During this movement, the aircraft's left and right propellers successively struck two runway edge lights located on the left side of the runway. The pilot immediately aborted the takeoff attempt and taxied the aircraft to the parking area. The incident resulted in damage to both propellers and the two runway light units, necessitating a 30-wide closure of the runway.
The investigation
The investigation focused on the pilot's navigation during the night taxi. The pilot reported that while taxiing to align with the runway, he lost sight of the taxiway centerline markings and incorrectly assumed that air traffic controllers had extinguished them. Consequently, the pilot began using the runway edge lights as a navigational reference, mistakenly believing the left edge lights were the taxiway centerline.
Investigators determined that the pilot was likely already offset to the left at the start of the alignment maneuver. Because the taxiway centerline markings are directional, the pilot could not see them from his position. He used the visible runway edge lights on his left as a guide, while the runway centerline markings on his right were misinterpreted as the right-hand edge lights. This error was further complicated by the curvature of the runway, which obscured the actual right-hand edge lights from the pilot's view.
Findings
- The pilot experienced an erroneous perception of the aircraft's position on the runway.
- A confirmation bias occurred, where the pilot interpreted the visible runway centerline as the right-hand edge light, reinforcing his incorrect mental model.
- The pilot failed to recognize the absence of edge lighting on the left side of the aircraft.
- Pilot fatigue likely contributed to the navigational error.