PA-38 Tomahawk
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Situational Awareness
ATC Issue All Types; Ground Event / Encounter Object; Ground Excursion Taxiway; Inflight Event / Encounter Object
General None Reported / Taken
Human Factors
A Piper 38 Tomahawk was cleared to land Runway 28 following a C172. The Tomahawk landed without incident; but when he turned off the runway at intersection TYA3 and the crossing Runway 31; he ended up in the middle of a paved surface that was between Taxiway's A and A3 and Runway 31. The aircraft came to a stop against the 2;000 feet remaining sign for Runway 31. When I noticed the aircraft was not on a taxiway and headed for the wrong area; I asked if he needed any help and the pilot stated that he thought he just hit a sign. There was no injury to the pilot and he thought there was no damage to the aircraft; but since he thought he hit the sign; we called the airport authority to check out the situation and once they determined that he had indeed hit the sign; we proceeded to make the proper notifications and collect the necessary data. FDSO release the aircraft over the phone and allowed the aircraft to be moved to the FBO. I should have paid more attention to the aircraft as he rolled out and been prepared to give runway exiting instructions sooner. I did not recognize the callsign to be local and therefore could have better prepped the pilot about the confusing intersection. I allowed myself to be caught up writing up the recent arrival strips and should have been more vigilant in my scan to help catch the pilot's error. Additionally; this intersection over the years has had similar incidents at night; because of the confusing set up; I would recommend that the airport authority review the current set up at this intersection and try to determine if there is a better solution than the current one. All in all though; if I had spent just a few more seconds watching the aircraft exit the runway and ensured that the pilot was familiar; there would most likely have not been any incident.
Local Controller described an emergency event when a landing aircraft hit a sign when exiting the landing runway at a reported confusing intersection.