Small Aircraft; Low Wing; 1 Eng; Fixed Gear
Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Commercial
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 4; Flight Crew Total 524; Flight Crew Type 52
Confusion; Situational Awareness
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT
Flight Crew Became Reoriented; Flight Crew Diverted; Flight Crew Executed Go Around / Missed Approach
Environment - Non Weather Related; Airport
I hold an IFR and commercial rating; but my IFR rating is not current. My total time at the time of the flight was 524 hours; with 45 hours night flying; and 55 night landings. I was current; but not night current. I was flying solo and considered my solo flight as counting toward regaining night currency. I am familiar with pilot activated lighting and have used it on many occasions. The aircraft; was not equipped for IFR. There was only one radio and no GPS. I did have an iPad with ForeFlight and current maps. I also had the paper charts.Before the flight; I repeatedly checked the weather. Knowing I would almost certainly arrive after dark; I made sure to check all the lights as part of the pre-flight. Everything was in working order.I took off enroute to another airport. My departure was delayed due to low ceilings. After take-off; tower handed me to Approach for flight following. I planned to stay at 3000 ft MSL for more favorable winds. After the second traffic call in 5 minutes; I suggested I climb higher. Approach requested I climb to 4500 ft MSL. Adverse winds reduced my groundspeed by 15-20 knots. I was also advised to route around possible aerobatic activity scheduled over the airport.A lowering ceiling forced me to descend to 3000 ft. I recorded 'night' as starting at XA40 local. By about XB15 local; I had the beacon in sight; cancelled flight following; and switched to the local CTAF frequency. I could clearly make out the beacon; lights around the hangars; and what appeared to be approach lighting at each end of the runway.My first mistake was to make a call to local traffic to join left downwind for the runway. This runway is right traffic. I attempted to activate the non-standard LIRL runway lights by keying the microphone. I did not see any lights come on. I tried two more times. Given the note 'nonstandard' I thought maybe the lights were unidirectional and I would only see them on final. I turned left crosswind; then on final and lined up on the lights I thought were the approach/runway end lighting (there is nothing in the AFD or on the chart indicating there are runway end identifier lights). I still didn't see runway lights; so I tried activating them again.My second mistake was continuing my approach and descent until I passed over what I believed was the runway property fence. The aircraft landing light illuminated the ground and I saw grass; which I believed was the clearway in front of the threshold. I still couldn't see the runway. I briefly considered continuing the descent; but decided that was unsafe and I needed to go around.I powered up; pulled up; cleaned up; and then made another radio call. At one point; I saw the asphalt runway below me. After reaching a safe altitude; I referred again to the AFD on ForeFlight. I verified there was lighting; but now I was also reminded the traffic for the runway was right hand traffic. I knew the beacon would not be on unless the airfield was open and available for night operations. I repeatedly attempted to activate the runway lighting. This time; from a right traffic pattern; I turned base; then final; and lined up again on what I believed to be the runway end identifier lights. Having seen the asphalt runway after executing my missed landing before; I believed I only needed to continue my descent further. Fortunately; instead I aborted the attempt long before reaching what I believed to be the airport fence line. I am not sure why; but I believed something was off; this was not acceptable; and decided it simply was not safe to land. As I started to turn to abort the landing; I saw the runway; hundreds of yards to the west of what I believed to be the runway I had lined up on. I was stunned. If I had continued the result would have been catastrophic and possibly fatal.I diverted to an airport that is only a few miles away. I landed without incident. That was my first time landing there.First; I failed to adequately prepare myself for the flight. By not getting a full briefing; I failed to know about the NOTAM for aerobatic activity. Second; I failed to properly prep for the planned landing. I should have re-read the AFD section. I had never landed at this airport at night and my last landing here was 5 months prior. I needed to refresh my knowledge about the traffic patterns. Third; I never should have attempted an approach if I couldn't get the runway lights to come on. Even if they were unidirectional (which seems illogical); once I didn't see them on final; I should have aborted immediately.There were other contributing factors. Just east of the airport property is a barn-like structure that has a series of lights that appear very similar to runway end identifier lights. About the distance of the runway from the first lights at an angle towards the runway and perfectly aligned with the first lights is a parallel row of lights intersected in the middle by a perpendicular row of lights (forming a perfect 'T') that look very similar to simple approach lighting systems. There is nothing between this false runway lights and the actual runway. The beacon is west of the field and the other areas looks like black space.The verbiage in the AFD about non-standard lighting is ambiguous. After re-reading the section; I believe I now know the intent is there is only lighting along part of the runway. By stating both 'non-standard' and then 'only center 2700 ft of runway lighted' I believed they were two separate statements; rather than a redundancy. Finally the pilot controlled lighting at this airport operates markedly different than other systems. The airport operator tested the lighting the next day and it did work properly; but activation requires a slow rate of 'clicks'. Where normal systems respond to a 'click' every half to one second; this airport system requires a 1 1/2 to 2 full seconds between each click. Clearly; I need to do a better job of preparing for flights; especially emphasizing landings. Even over routes I consider very familiar; I need to do thorough briefings looking for NOTAMs.One other lesson was how easily I was gulled into 'trying again.' I've read many accident accounts of IFR flights ending in disaster after a pilot repeatedly tries to land following earlier aborted approaches. I thought that was silly; but here I was attempting to land on a non-runway because I saw the runway after I had gone missed.
Pilot attempted to locate and land at an uncontrolled field at night. Was unable to locate the runway and thus diverted to a nearby airport.