Approach and Landing
The flight crew reported that the instrument approach was flown on autopilot to approximately 700 ft above ground level until the runway was visually in sight. At that point, the airplane was 300 ft off the runway centerline and 1 nautical mile from the runway threshold. The visual glideslope indicator was inoperative, and the runway markings were obscured due to dry light snow.
Impact and Damage
The airplane subsequently landed hard on the unusable portion of the runway, about 800 ft short of the landing threshold. The left main landing gear tire blew, causing the propeller to strike the runway. The airplane veered off the runway, substantially damaging the left wing.
Mechanical Status
The pilots reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Probable Cause
According to the official findings, the probable cause of the accident was the pilot’s improper landing flare, which resulted in a hard landing. Contributing to the accident was the out of service visual glideslope indicator and snow obscuring the runway markings.