The pilot reported that on the day of the accident he had made previous landings without incident. He said that during the accident flight, the airplane veered to the left during landing. He stated that he attempted to correct using right rudder input, but the airplane did not respond. The airplane subsequently exited the left side of runway 29, went down an embankment, and struck small trees. During the runway excursion, the left main landing gear collapsed. A weather report for an airport 8 miles southwest of the accident site showed that the winds at the time of the accident were from 170 degrees at 15 knots, gusting to 19 knots. Subsequent examination of the airplane did not reveal any pre-impact defects.