The pilot planned a personal flight to the airport in Hartford, Wisconsin, which had recently added new runways.
Before the flight, his flight instructor sent him an airport diagram with the new grass runway marked, which was parallel to an asphalt runway.
After the pilot reviewed the diagram, he though he knew where to expect the new grass runway.
While in the traffic pattern at KHXF, he noticed a large open grass space below him, so he landed the J-3 Cub.
He landed to the east, but thought he had landed to the west.
The area that he landed on was not the grass runway. While completing a fast taxi, the plane hit a runway marker for the north-south runway.
The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage and left wing spar.
Probable Cause: The pilot’s loss of situation awareness, which resulted in landing in a grass area and the subsequent collision with a runway marker.
To download the final report. Click here. This will trigger a PDF download to your device.
This August 2020 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
