Report on aviation incident at Skien Airport, Geiteryggen, on 19 March 2026 involving a Textron Aviation 172S, LN-AZE

The flight was a training flight conducted as part of the student pilot training program at OSM Aviation Academy in Arendal. There were two students on board. The student seated in the front left seat was scheduled to practice night landings, while the student seated in the rear was observing. The flight initially consisted of a navigation exercise from Gullknapp Airport to Skien Airport, Geiteryggen, where they planned to conduct ten touch-and-go landings. The first nine landings were carried out using different runway lighting configurations and both with and without the aircraft's landing light illuminated. These landings were completed without any incident. When the runway lights switched off shortly before the final landing, the instructor decided that the student should perform the landing without runway lighting. The runway lights are programmed to switch off automatically after 30 minutes. During the final approach, the pilots realized too late that they had aligned the aircraft with the edge of the runway rather than the runway centerline. As a result, the aircraft struck two runway edge lights during landing. The instructor took over the controls, guided the aircraft onto the runway, and initiated a takeoff. Although the crew were aware that they had struck something, they considered the aircraft to be operating normally and therefore chose to return to Gullknapp Airport, where they carried out a normal landing.

Overall, the occurrence demonstrates how a planned training flight gradually developed into a situation with reduced safety margins as a result of several coinciding factors. The absence of runway lighting, combined with extremely low levels of ambient light, meant that essential visual references were unavailable. At the same time, the decision to continue the landing was made without a sufficient assessment of the changed operating conditions. The occurrence illustrates why existing regulations require runway lighting for night training operations.

Furthermore, the investigation found that the flight school's governing documents did not contain clear operational limitations regarding minimum runway lighting requirements for night training flights. As a result, the assessment was to some extent left to the discretion of the instructor. The NSIA considers that this occurrence highlights the importance of runway lighting as a key safety barrier during night operations. At the same time, the investigation showed that landings without runway lighting are not part of normal training practice at Norwegian flight schools, and that OSM Aviation Academy changed its procedures following the occurrence. The NSIA therefore finds no basis for issuing a safety recommendation.

This report is in Norwegian only.

LN-AZE after landing at Gullknapp. Photo: OSM Aviation / NSIA

Published 22.09.2026