Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Multiengine
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 170; Flight Crew Total 400; Flight Crew Type 35
Situational Awareness; Distraction; Confusion
Ground Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control; Ground Event / Encounter Ground Strike - Aircraft
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged
Airport
I descended to my pattern altitude and flew a modified downwind to base leg when I had determined the airstrip was in sight. As I was turning my final approach; around a 150 heading; the sun was coming up on the horizon at this time. I had been to this airstrip prior to this trip so; I was familiar with the direction; approximate length and width of the runway. Unknown to me; the owner of the ranch and aircraft had tilled a field parallel and butting up with the airstrip the exact same width and length as the runway. This discoloration of the freshly moved dirt stuck out as the runway in relation to the rest of the pasture which was predominately dead grass and shrub. I slowed the aircraft to my final approach speed 65-70 KTS for a short; soft field landing. As I neared my flaring altitude; with the sun still in my eyes; I reduced the power and softly set the main wheels down. I then noticed that the strip seemed much softer than I recalled and I maintained the nose wheel off the ground as best as I could. As my airspeed continued to bleed off and [with] the extra drag from the soft dirt; the nose wheels set down and dug into the soft dirt. The aircraft flipped over on its back. I immediately turned off the fuel; pulled the mixture to cut-off; turned off the avionics; the master; and the ignition. I then removed my seat-belt and exited the aircraft out of the side door. The owner of the aircraft and one of his workers had witnessed this happen and were pulling up in a truck as I was climbing out. The first thing that the owner said to me after asking if I was alright was; I should have told you that I had plowed that field. That is my fault. I sustained no injuries of any kind. I then realized that the strip I had intended to land on; had vegetation and growth on it and was not clearly marked so I had mistaken it for part of the pasture. The aircraft fuselage and landing gear did not sustain any noticeable damage. The right wing; propeller and vertical stabilizer did sustain damage.
The pilot of a Cessna 206 mistook a freshly plowed field adjacent to a private airstrip as the runway. His landing was successful but the nose wheel dug into the soft ground and caused the aircraft to flip over. The pilot was uninjured but the aircraft received some damage.