Investigation of aviation incident at Skien Airport, Geiteryggen
On 19 March, LN-AZE was flying landing patterns at Geiteryggen airport with an instructor and student on board to practise night landings. The final touch and go was carried out without runway lighting, and during the landing the aircraft struck two runway lights. The instructor took over the controls and the aircraft was flown to Gullknapp Airport in Arendal. No one was injured in the incident, but the aircraft sustained some damage to the lower fuselage.
The flight was a training sortie on the syllabus for students at OSM Aviation Academy in Arendal. There were two students on board: the student in the front left seat was to practise night landings, while the student seated in the rear was observing. They first flew a navigation leg from Gullknapp Airport to Geiteryggen Airport, where they planned to carry out ten touch and goes. The first nine landings were performed with various runway lighting configurations and both with and without the aircraft's landing lights. These landings went well, and when the runway lights switched off just before the final landing (they turn off automatically after 30 minutes), the instructor decided the student should land without runway lighting. On the approach, the crew realised too late that they had lined up over the runway edge and consequently struck two edge lights on touchdown. The instructor took control, brought the aircraft back onto the runway and initiated a go-around. They were aware they had hit something, but they felt the aircraft was handling normally and chose to fly back to Gullknapp, where they made a normal landing.
Latest update: 10.04.2026
Facts
| Location | Skien airport, Geiteryggen, Norway |
| Occurrence date | 19.03.2026 |
| ICAO Location indicator | ENSN |
| Aircraft | Cessna 172 Skyhawk |
| Operator | OSM Aviation Academy AS |
| Registration | LN-AZE |
| Meteorological conditions | VMC |
| County | Telemark |
| Type of occurrence | Incident |
| Type of operation | Training |
| Category of operation | Light, aeroplane (< 5 700kg) |
| Aircraft category | Landplane, Single-engine |