Narrative:

I had a relative near miss on the runway after touching down on runway 13. I encountered another airplane in head-on fashion over the runway. I had been traveling to edc; an uncontrolled airport with an elevation of 620' MSL. We requested and received 'flight following'; which was cancelled within 10 to 15 NM of the destination airport; edc. From that point on; [we] were squawking 1200; and our communication was limited only to the CTAF for edc traffic.I was the pilot-in-command and my [passenger]; no piloting experience; was in the co-pilot seat. For the first 50% of the flight; our cruise altitude was 4;500'. Increasing clouds at 3;000' and above necessitated a descent allowing us to remain VFR. Within 20 to 30 NM of edc we encountered a progressively lowering cloud base. Around the airport; the AWOS-3 reported a ceiling of 1;300' AGL. From 6 to 8 NM out; I was flying at 1100' AGL +/- to be clear of the clouds as I prepared for entry into the traffic pattern; which was left pattern for both runways 13-31; the main airstrip. There is another small strip; 16-34 which is 1550' x 25' also at this airport; but it is used on a lesser basis to my understanding. Based on AWOS-3 weather information; I secured prior to being in the immediate vicinity of the airport; the winds were favoring runway 31. Because the cloud base was low; I could not overfly the field. Thus; I determined well north of the airport that I would circle the departure end of the runway in leftward direction and join the left pattern for runway 31 on the south side of the airport. Mistakenly; instead of circumnavigating to the south side; I stayed on the north side; being distracted by the extension of my downwind and preparing for landing. The bottom line is that my radio calls when approaching the pattern and within the pattern indicated that I would land on runway 31; but because of my mistake; I landed on runway 13; the opposite end. After VFR flight following was cancelled; my first radio communication on the edc CTAF to announce my position and intentions was made at 6 NM north. I made another call at 3 NM north. I then proceeded to make radio calls when I joined the left downwind leg of the traffic pattern; when I announced I was going to extend my downwind leg in order to give landing traffic; a bit more separation; when I turned onto the left base and when I turned to final approach. During the time I was approaching the airport and when in the traffic pattern; the only other communication on the radio came from the [other aircraft]. I did not have the [other aircraft] in sight; but after he made his position call that he was on his final approach; I started my base turn. When the [other aircraft] announced that he was clear of the active runway; I then made my radio position call that I was making my turn to final from 0.7 NM out. From this point until my touchdown; no other radio calls occurred on the edc CTAF frequency. When I was touching down and still at high speed on the rollout; only then did I spot the troubling profile and landing lights of a light twin aircraft coming from the opposite end of the runway. It was 20 to 30 feet in the air at the point I first caught sight of it. It was traveling over its left side of the runway and I was on the centerline. The twin started to veer to the right a bit. In order to give it a wide berth; I started braking such that my plane was on the left (my left) side of the runway; eventually resulting in my left main gear traveling briefly beyond the asphalt edge of the runway; but not far enough to get conflict with the runway edge lighting. Within a few seconds of seeing his movement to his right; I saw him resume a path to his left side of the runway; thus maximizing the distance of our separation. I quickly regained directional control and returned my plane fully onto the runway surface. I slowed the plane normally with braking and proceeded to the end of the runway. As I reached the numbers at the end of the runway; I learned of my runway orientation error. A plane was holding short at the taxiway there (he communicated that he was waiting for IFR clearance); so I back-taxied to the next available exit and brought myself clear of the runway. As such; I made the radio call announcing that I was clear and taxiing to the FBO.by the time the twin and I were abeam on the runway; we were approximately 150' apart. The pilot of the other plane made a radio call at that point admonishing me in extreme terms (not exactly sure what he said because of a strong accent). This is the first time that he made any kind of radio call on the CTAF frequency. I do not know whether he was taking off; landing or 'going missed' on a practice instrument approach. No one was injured; no airplanes or property was damaged. Obviously; I learned a tremendous amount from my involvement in and post-analysis of this happening.contributing factors:- my mistake of landing on the opposite end of the runway at this uncontrolled airport was a significant contributing factor. - Also contributing heavily was the lack of communication by the 'near miss' twin; as to his presence; his position and his intentions were unknown to me or likely any other aircraft in the area. - Another factor was the low cloud ceiling.....this prevented me from overflying the field at a higher and suitable altitude. Thus; I was not able to make a final double check of runway orientation and surface winds. - Despite setting my heading bug to align with the desired runway 31 several miles from the airport; I neglected to scan the HSI again as I traversed the pattern prior to landing.- the fact that this way my first flight with my brother as a passenger could have contributed; as I went to exaggerated effort to explain to him each and every action related to our pattern activity; approach and landing process. It is possible that this could have distracted me from completing my traffic pattern so that I was landing on my desired runway 31 instead of runway 13; the one on which I landed.- the fact that the plane that was holding short at the end of runway 31; did not make a radio call with their position/intentions either. Thus; I was not scanning for aircraft holding short as I was on my final approach.....regardless of which end of the runway they were on.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A pilot reported approaching EDC and became confused about his location relative to his intended runway and entered Runway 13 downwind; but reported landing 31. After he landed on Runway 13; he had a near miss with a light twin departing Runway 31.

Narrative: I had a relative near miss on the runway after touching down on Runway 13. I encountered another airplane in head-on fashion over the runway. I had been traveling to EDC; an uncontrolled airport with an elevation of 620' MSL. We requested and received 'flight following'; which was cancelled within 10 to 15 NM of the destination airport; EDC. From that point on; [we] were squawking 1200; and our communication was limited only to the CTAF for EDC Traffic.I was the Pilot-in-Command and my [passenger]; no piloting experience; was in the co-pilot seat. For the first 50% of the flight; our cruise altitude was 4;500'. Increasing clouds at 3;000' and above necessitated a descent allowing us to remain VFR. Within 20 to 30 NM of EDC we encountered a progressively lowering cloud base. Around the airport; the AWOS-3 reported a ceiling of 1;300' AGL. From 6 to 8 NM out; I was flying at 1100' AGL +/- to be clear of the clouds as I prepared for entry into the traffic pattern; which was left pattern for both Runways 13-31; the main airstrip. There is another small strip; 16-34 which is 1550' x 25' also at this airport; but it is used on a lesser basis to my understanding. Based on AWOS-3 weather information; I secured prior to being in the immediate vicinity of the airport; the winds were favoring Runway 31. Because the cloud base was low; I could not overfly the field. Thus; I determined well north of the airport that I would circle the departure end of the runway in leftward direction and join the left pattern for Runway 31 on the south side of the airport. Mistakenly; instead of circumnavigating to the south side; I stayed on the north side; being distracted by the extension of my downwind and preparing for landing. The bottom line is that my radio calls when approaching the pattern and within the pattern indicated that I would land on Runway 31; but because of my mistake; I landed on Runway 13; the opposite end. After VFR Flight Following was cancelled; my first radio communication on the EDC CTAF to announce my position and intentions was made at 6 NM north. I made another call at 3 NM north. I then proceeded to make radio calls when I joined the left downwind leg of the traffic pattern; when I announced I was going to extend my downwind leg in order to give landing traffic; a bit more separation; when I turned onto the left base and when I turned to final approach. During the time I was approaching the airport and when in the traffic pattern; the only other communication on the radio came from the [other aircraft]. I did not have the [other aircraft] in sight; but after he made his position call that he was on his final approach; I started my base turn. When the [other aircraft] announced that he was clear of the active runway; I then made my radio position call that I was making my turn to final from 0.7 NM out. From this point until my touchdown; no other radio calls occurred on the EDC CTAF frequency. When I was touching down and still at high speed on the rollout; only then did I spot the troubling profile and landing lights of a light twin aircraft coming from the opposite end of the runway. It was 20 to 30 feet in the air at the point I first caught sight of it. It was traveling over its left side of the runway and I was on the centerline. The twin started to veer to the right a bit. In order to give it a wide berth; I started braking such that my plane was on the left (my left) side of the runway; eventually resulting in my left main gear traveling briefly beyond the asphalt edge of the runway; but not far enough to get conflict with the runway edge lighting. Within a few seconds of seeing his movement to his right; I saw him resume a path to his left side of the runway; thus maximizing the distance of our separation. I quickly regained directional control and returned my plane fully onto the runway surface. I slowed the plane normally with braking and proceeded to the end of the runway. As I reached the numbers at the end of the runway; I learned of my runway orientation error. A plane was holding short at the taxiway there (he communicated that he was waiting for IFR Clearance); so I back-taxied to the next available exit and brought myself clear of the runway. As such; I made the radio call announcing that I was clear and taxiing to the FBO.By the time the twin and I were abeam on the runway; we were approximately 150' apart. The pilot of the other plane made a radio call at that point admonishing me in extreme terms (not exactly sure what he said because of a strong accent). This is the first time that he made any kind of radio call on the CTAF frequency. I do not know whether he was taking off; landing or 'going missed' on a practice instrument approach. No one was injured; no airplanes or property was damaged. Obviously; I learned a tremendous amount from my involvement in and post-analysis of this happening.Contributing factors:- My mistake of landing on the opposite end of the runway at this uncontrolled airport was a significant contributing factor. - Also contributing heavily was the lack of communication by the 'near miss' twin; as to his presence; his position and his intentions were unknown to me or likely any other aircraft in the area. - Another factor was the low cloud ceiling.....this prevented me from overflying the field at a higher and suitable altitude. Thus; I was not able to make a final double check of runway orientation and surface winds. - Despite setting my heading bug to align with the desired Runway 31 several miles from the airport; I neglected to scan the HSI again as I traversed the pattern prior to landing.- The fact that this way my first flight with my brother as a passenger could have contributed; as I went to exaggerated effort to explain to him each and every action related to our pattern activity; approach and landing process. It is possible that this could have distracted me from completing my traffic pattern so that I was landing on my desired Runway 31 instead of Runway 13; the one on which I landed.- The fact that the plane that was holding short at the end of Runway 31; did not make a radio call with their position/intentions either. Thus; I was not scanning for aircraft holding short as I was on my final approach.....regardless of which end of the runway they were on.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.