Sorry, don’t see how it’s the same. He’s above & should be looking down. I think he should have noticed something unusual near the runway. So he either wasn’t paying attention, or saw something & decided he didn’t want to wait & came in anyway.
Only other possibility is that it was foggy/poor visibility.
I see another poster said that pilots will fly over a runway to make sure it’s clear before landing. I’m guessing he didn’t do that.
I'm a GA pilot, and have made probably 5000 landings over the course of 40 years.
I think I can say the *typical* pilot is always paying attention... to something... and there is SOOO much to pay attention to. One dividing line - paying attention inside the cabin (a no-no) versus looking out the window (a must). There are virtually hundreds of things to pay attention to, like visually sensing runway aspect ratio, an indicator of altitude that replaces looking inside at the altimeter. Someone darting across the runway can happen quicker than one might think, while dropping the gear, lowering flaps, flaring, etc.
This now becomes NTSB territory, to determine if and how much is at fault. FWIW, it could even be mostly determined that the condition of the windshield was a big factor.
If the lady was crossing the runway without looking, then the pilot is blameless.
On final approach the pilot tends to get tunnel vision, looking at nothing but the runway. Summer of 87 I was wrenching on planes at the Galesburg IL airport. One day, as I was doing routine engine work near the front doors of the hangar, heard and saw a light twin (Ted Smith Aerostar) coming in on final. Seeing that often, I quickly realized the plane was not aligned with the runway, but with the (closer to the hangar) parallel taxiway. He touched down straight out from the hangar, going from left to right. And I was alarmed, but helpless to do anything, because....
...right after he touched down he whizzed (at about 75 knots) by a groundskeeper mowing with a cab-less 80 hp Ford tractor pulling wide mower.
Fortunately, the mower was making his second pass along the taxiway, because if he was making his first pass the right wing would have likely removed his head.
I saw the groundskeeper (a big guy) ‘greet’ the pilot as he exited the plane. All the pilot could do was hang his head and receive the verbal lashing.
The pilot had obviously not flown the pattern. For if he had, he would have noticed how the recently sealcoated taxiway stood out more than the gray, yet much wider runway. Instead he likely spotted the taxiway from a few miles out, and never moved his eyes enough to notice the runway.