Cirrus Design Corp SR20 N89LF accident near Port St. Lucie, Florida

Probable cause

The pilot’s failure to correctly identify the airport runway, which resulted in a landing on a road and contact with a power line. Contributing to the outcome was the sun glare.

NTSB analysis

The pilot was flying to a small, private airpark to pick up a colleague. As he approached the airport, he circled and descended from 2,000 ft to the left downwind leg of the traffic pattern. While on the downwind leg, the pilot spotted what he thought was the (4,061-ft-long by 48-ft-wide) runway and described that he was flying into the glare of the rising sun and morning haze. When the airplane touched down the pilot immediately realized that he would not have enough landing distance to stop and elected to abort the landing. The pilot applied power and began to climb; however, after becoming airborne, he heard a “brushing” sound that he believed was foliage at the end of the pavement. The pilot then diverted to a nearby airport and made an uneventful landing. The pilot was later informed by the owner of the airplane that he had likely landed on a paved roadway near, and oriented parallel to the intended runway. Later, the pilot learned that he had struck a powerline that spanned across the roadway.

A postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the left wing main spar had been substantially damaged ruing the accident sequence. The pilot reported that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for ERA24LA320 for the full record.