Narrative:

VFR with calm winds. North operation; advertising runway 02. TRACON call asking approval to bring an aircraft into the downwind from the northwest; [aircraft X]. I approved the request. The aircraft checked in and was given landing clearance for runway 02. Approaching the field from the northwest; we noticed that the plane appeared to be bringing it in for what we thought to be a tight downwind. The pilot then asked to confirm that he was to land on runway 02. I verified landing clearance for runway 02 and advised the pilot that he appeared to be lined up for runway 20 and that runway 02 was the other direction. I observed the plane make a slight correction; turning to the right for what I thought was the pilot joining the runway 02 downwind. As the pilot was making the turn; he asked if he could land runway 20 instead. I had no other traffic and the winds were calm; so I cleared the aircraft to land runway 20. I observe the aircraft over the approach end of runway 20; which is also the approach end of closed runway 16. I looked down to call TRACON to advise what had happened; and as soon as I did; my fellow controller saw that the aircraft was landing on runway 16. As I looked up; the plane was in the landing roll. The safest decision was to not give any go around instructions as there was equipment on the southern portion of runway 16. The area that the aircraft landed was open for taxi only; free of any equipment. The aircraft was taxied clear with no damage. We have consulted with airport operations. Because runway 16 was open for taxi; the runway lights were on; causing confusion to landing aircraft on other runways. Runway 16 is now a scheduled closure for taxi also; so the runway lights will be off at night.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Tower Controller reported that an inbound aircraft had mistakenly landed on a runway closed to landing traffic. Runway was open for taxi so the runway lights were on and may have contributed to pilot confusion.

Narrative: VFR with calm winds. North operation; advertising runway 02. TRACON call asking approval to bring an aircraft into the downwind from the northwest; [Aircraft X]. I approved the request. The aircraft checked in and was given landing clearance for runway 02. Approaching the field from the northwest; we noticed that the plane appeared to be bringing it in for what we thought to be a tight downwind. The pilot then asked to confirm that he was to land on runway 02. I verified landing clearance for runway 02 and advised the pilot that he appeared to be lined up for runway 20 and that runway 02 was the other direction. I observed the plane make a slight correction; turning to the right for what I thought was the pilot joining the runway 02 downwind. As the pilot was making the turn; he asked if he could land runway 20 instead. I had no other traffic and the winds were calm; so I cleared the aircraft to land runway 20. I observe the aircraft over the approach end of runway 20; which is also the approach end of closed runway 16. I looked down to call TRACON to advise what had happened; and as soon as I did; my fellow controller saw that the aircraft was landing on runway 16. As I looked up; the plane was in the landing roll. The safest decision was to not give any go around instructions as there was equipment on the southern portion of runway 16. The area that the aircraft landed was open for taxi only; free of any equipment. The aircraft was taxied clear with no damage. We have consulted with airport operations. Because runway 16 was open for taxi; the runway lights were on; causing confusion to landing aircraft on other runways. Runway 16 is now a scheduled closure for taxi also; so the runway lights will be off at night.

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.