Flight Crew Private; Flight Crew Instrument
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 14; Flight Crew Total 1345; Flight Crew Type 834
Confusion; Situational Awareness
Conflict Ground Conflict; Critical; Deviation - Track / Heading All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Flight Crew Became Reoriented; Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Airport; Human Factors
I was planning to land at VAY to meet some friends.  I was navigating VFR; and used radar services ('flight following') for part of the 15 nm flight.As I was turning from right downwind to right base for runway 26 at VAY; my plane lined up with runway 19 of airport N14; which is only about a mile away.  I lost situational awareness and mistakenly thought I had just turned final and was therefore lined up with runway 26 of VAY.  I landed at N14 and didn't realize my mistake until I saw another aircraft at the far end of the runway I had just landed on.On the CTAF -- which is the same frequency for both VAY and N14 -- I heard someone say something like; 'Isn't runway 1 the active?;' implying correctly that I had landed in the wrong direction for the winds.  I don't know whether the opposing plane on the runway was preparing to take off or had just landed.  We both veered left and passed by each other on the runway at low speed without contact.Once I realized my error; I continued to taxi to the far end of the runway; did a 180; and -- compounding my stupidity by not exiting the runway and regrouping -- took off from runway 1 for the one-minute flight to my correct airport; VAY.I quickly realized that I had made a number of dangerous errors.  Because 99 percent of my flights are IFR; I know that I was rusty on VFR navigation and procedures.  IFR is; most times; easier than VFR!  Since I was already aware of the proximity of the two airports; I should have been vigilant for a possible identification error.  I also should have verified the numbers on the landing runway (although the numbers at N14 are fairly well faded) and with my heading indicator.  Plus; since I had onboard GPS WAAS; I could have dialed in an approach for my intended destination and used the guidance to verify I was landing in the correct place.  Also; once I landed at N14; I should have exited the runway; shut down; and planned my next hop rather than just taking off immediately.
A general aviation pilot reported confusion that led to landing at the wrong non-towered airport; resulting in a ground conflict with another aircraft.