PLT OF SMA SINGLE ENG LAND ACFT INADVERTENTLY LANDED ON A CLOSED RWY BEING USED FOR RADIO CTL MODEL AIRPLANES.

Date: 1993-06 · Aircraft: Small Aircraft; Low Wing; 1 Eng; Fixed Gear

Anomalies: deviation-discrepancy-procedural-clearance|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-landing-without-clearance|ground-incursion-runway|other-unspecified

Synopsis

PLT OF SMA SINGLE ENG LAND ACFT INADVERTENTLY LANDED ON A CLOSED RWY BEING USED FOR RADIO CTL MODEL AIRPLANES.

Narrative

I WAS CLRED TO LAND ON RWY 20. ON FINAL I THINK I CHKED RWY WITH THE COMPASS; BUT FOR UNKNOWN REASONS I DID NOT REGISTER IN MY MIND THAT THE APCHING RWY WAS THE INCORRECT RWY 15. RWY 15 WAS TEMPORARILY CLOSED DUE TO REMOTE CTLED AIRPLANE ACTIVITY ON THE FIELD. AWARE OF ALL THE REMOTE CTL ACTIVITY AND PEOPLE; I FLEW OVER THE THRESHOLD MUCH HIGHER THAN NORMAL. AT THIS TIME; I NOTICED A HIGH WING AIRPLANE INTERSECTING RWY 15 SLIGHTLY AHEAD AND APPROX 75 FT BELOW ME; SO I REMAINED ON A HIGH APCH UNTIL CLR OF THE ACTIVITY. AT NO TIME WAS MY ACFT OR ANYONE ON THE GND IN DANGER AND I MAINTAINED TOTAL CTL OF THE PLANE THROUGHOUT THE LNDG. UPON TOUCHDOWN; THE TWR INFORMED ME OF MY LNDG ON THE CLOSED RWY. I LISTENED TO ATIS AT LEAST 12 TIMES AND NOTED WINDS; ALTIMETER; ACTIVE RWY 20; VISIBILITY; ETC; HOWEVER; THE SEGMENT OF THE XMISSION PERTAINING TO CLOSED RWY 15 AND 33 WAS THE MOST GARBLED. I HEARD RWY 33 CLOSED AND MADE A MENTAL NOTE THAT IT WOULD NOT AFFECT ME SINCE I WAS APCHING FROM THE NW. I DEVELOPED A STRONG HEADACHE WHILE TRYING TO HEAR ATIS (HEADPHONES DIDN'T CLARIFY THE BROADCAST). APPROX 15 MI W OF BAF I BECAME SLIGHTLY DISORIENTED AND TUNED THE BAF VORTAC TO OBTAIN A PROPER VECTOR. UPON VISUAL CONTACT WITH ARPT AND CONTACT WITH THE TWR; I FELT A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF RELIEF; UNAWARE THAT THE RWY I HAD MADE VISUAL CONTACT WITH WAS INCORRECT RWY 15. AT ABOUT THIS POINT; MY 3 YR OLD SON BEGAN ANNOUNCING THAT HE WAS IN DIRE NEED OF A RESTROOM. IN MY ANXIETY TO GET ON THE GND; I HEARD AND ACKNOWLEDGED THE ATC CLRNC TO LAND ON 20. STILL UNAWARE OF MY ALIGNMENT WITH RWY 15; I CONTINUED ON FINAL INCORRECTLY ASSUMING THE CLRNC WAS FOR THE RWY DIRECTLY AHEAD OF ME; PROBABLY A RESULT OF A FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY CAUSED BY FLYING WITH ATC; AND A GENERAL LACK OF ATC EXPERIENCE.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.