Small Aircraft; High Wing; 1 Eng; Fixed Gear
Flight Crew Private
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 20.6; Flight Crew Total 1475.0; Flight Crew Type 1154
Situational Awareness; Distraction; Communication Breakdown
Deviation - Track / Heading All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance
Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance; Flight Crew Became Reoriented
Environment - Non Weather Related; Human Factors; Airport
Upon the initial contact with KAHN tower I was told to expect a right down wind for runway 27.From 20 miles to 15 miles to over flying the airport from the west to the east I never saw the rotating beacon. Not having flown into KAHN very often at night I was trying to locate the beacon visually; while transitioning from the GPS system to outside of the cockpit; and as I trying to locate the beacon I lost sight of the airport as depicted on the GPS. At the moment the controller called to ask if I knew where I was; it was at that moment I realized what I had done and where I was in relationship to the airport and the runway as depicted on the GPS. As I readjusted my focus to the GPS I saw that I had flown south of the runway and was now about 1.5-2 miles south east of the airfield; runway 27. I made a turn to the airfield and made a landing without incident. I have spoken to two other pilots and a flight instructor who regularity fly into KAHN at night and they confirmed and affirmed the trouble I had finding the beacon let alone the airport. They also confirmed that it is extremely difficult to see the rotating beacon at night even in ideal conditions because of the light pollution around the airport and the physical location of the rotating beacon. In addition I realize I could have asked for or controlled the brightness of the runway lights sooner and should have asked the controller for help sooner. But I have always been able to pick out the rotating beacon with little or no problem; but not last night coming into KAHN from the west.
The pilot of a small airplane reported over-flying the intended destination airport due to the inability to identify the rotating beacon and the airport environment at night.