According to the pilot, upon returning from a short sightseeing flight in his tailwheel-equipped airplane, the landing and taxi lights would not illuminate. Due to the dark night conditions and the inoperable landing and taxi lights, the pilot elected to land on a roadway rather than the short ice-covered private airstrip that had been used for departure. Unbeknownst to the pilot, a snow berm had been placed in the roadway. During the landing roll the airplane struck the snow berm and nosed over, substantially damaging the wings, horizontal stabilizer and rudder. The pilot reported that a postaccident examination revealed that the factory connection for the landing and taxi lights had failed at the 4-pin connector.

The pilot reported no other mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation other than the inoperable landing and taxi lights.

In the recommendation section of the NTSB Accident/Incident Reporting Form 6120.1, the pilot stated that the accident may have been prevented if the flight had been limited to daylight operations.