Small Aircraft; Low Wing; 1 Eng; Fixed Gear
Flight Crew Instrument
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 6; Flight Crew Total 993; Flight Crew Type 13
Situational Awareness; Distraction; Confusion
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown
Flight Crew Became Reoriented
Airport; Human Factors; Weather
The sky was clear and the sun was low and bright as I approached F51 from the southwest for planned fuel stop. It had rained significantly the night before with standing water visible in fields in the area. The airport appeared to have a wide water-soaked grass/dirt strip parallel what I mistook to be a narrow blacktop runway. I circled the airport to observe the windsock and noted that the winds were out of the NW favoring Runway 1. There were no visible runway markings other than a narrow white line on the blacktop. The approach to landing was high; so I initiated a slip to steepen my descent. Touchdown was bit long but otherwise uneventful. It wasn't until I started braking that I realized I had landed on the taxiway parallel to Runway 1. After landing I continued to taxi to the fuel pumps and shut down. Upon exiting the aircraft; I walked to the end of Runway 19 to look for any markings and found very faded stripping and numbers that were nearly invisible on the wet hard surface. The wet surface appeared quite brown vs black. Following fueling; I taxied on parallel taxiway to the end of Runway 1 where I again observed very faint and hard to distinguish markings on the wet surface. Takeoff and departure on Runway 1 was normal. In reviewing this unintended landing on a taxiway; I believe the following were contributing factors:1) unfamiliarity with this airport2) higher than normal approach with slip to landing was distracting my full attention to the landing surface3) Rain soaked surface of Runway 1 make it look like wet grass or dirt4) The wet Runway 1 markings were not clearly visible...needs repainting5) The blacktop of taxiway with its white centerline stripe appeared to look like a narrow runway with wide grass/dirt strip next to it.
GA pilot reported inadvertently landing at F51 airport taxiway parallel to the runway of intended landing. The runway surface was rain-soaked and the markings were not clearly visible and in need of repainting; and the taxiway had a white centerline stripe; all of which contributed to the event.