What happened
On Wednesday, September 20, 2000, a Robin DR 400-120, registration F-GLKF, was performing circuit patterns at the Lille Marcq-en-Barœul aerodrome. The aircraft was being operated by a student pilot performing their third solo flight. The pilot was executing right-hand circuits for runway 18.
During the landing phase, the pilot touched down on a field located approximately 200 meters west of the active runway. As the aircraft proceeded to taxi along this parallel surface, the right main landing gear was torn from the airframe, causing damage to both the gear and the right wing.
The investigation
The investigation focused on the pilot's perception of the landing environment. At the time of the accident, meteorological conditions were favorable, with visibility exceeding 10 km and light winds from 190 degrees at 5 knots.
The pilot stated that the field had been mowed the previous day, which caused its appearance to closely resemble the runway surface. The pilot typically uses existing touchdown marks from previous aircraft as visual references for landing. Upon seeing similar marks on the mowed field, the pilot mistakenly identified the area as the runway.
Notably, during a dual-instruction flight the previous day, the pilot had performed several landings on runway 18; however, at that time, the adjacent field had not yet been mowed.