PLT OF A SMA ATX ACFT LOST CTL OF THE ACFT AFTER HITTING A SNOW BANK ON THE RWY DURING A LNDG IN A SNOW STORM RESULTING IN DAMAGE TO THE ACFT.

Narrative

ON DEC X; 1993 APPROX XA:15 (LCL) ON THE VOR RWY 9 APCH AT GAYLORD; MICHIGAN. THIS APCH WAS FLOWN TO MDA; AND 1 1/2 MI FROM THE ARPT; WERE I TRANSITIONED VISUALLY TO LNDG THE ACFT. 1 ROW OF RWY EDGE LIGHTS WERE CLEARLY IN SIGHT. FROM MY PERSPECTIVE; THE SOUTHERN EDGE LIGHTS WERE COVERED BY SNOW DRIFTS. UPON LNDG THE ACFT DECELERATED; VEERED R AND SLID TO A STOP. THE NOSE AND L MAIN GEAR WAS COLLAPSED AND THE L PROP DAMAGED. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS IN THIS INCIDENT ARE THE FOLLOWING: WEAK RECEPTION ON #1 NAV EQUIP - NAV FLAG ON/OFF UP TO 6 MI OUT (SCRATCHY MORSE CODE). CONDITION OF RWY LIGHTS AND RWY. RWY WAS PREVIOUSLY PLOWED LEAVING A SNOW RIDGE ON THE S EDGE OF THE N EDGE LIGHTS; OBSCURING PLTS VIEW LOOKING AT THEM FROM MY POS. RWY COVERED WITH DRIFTING SNOW ELIMINATING ANY OUTLINE OF RWY; OR RWY MARKINGS. MY FIRST KNOWLEDGE OF LNDG OFF THE RWY WAS AFTER THE INCIDENT (SEE DIAGRAM) UP TO THE POINT OF REVIEW 15 MIN LATER; I CONCLUDED I LANDED IN SNOW DRIFT ON THE RWY. THE MOST CORRECTIVE ACTION WOULD BE TO MAINTAIN BETTER RWY SNOW REMOVAL AT THIS ARPT. GAYLORD; MICHIGAN IS LOCATED IN THE UPPER PART OF LOWER MICHIGAN'S SNOW BELT. LIKE MOST SMALLER ARPTS THEY ARE UNDERSTAFFED UNDERFUNDED. A LOT OF THESE ARPTS PLOW AROUND RWY LIGHTS NOT CLRING SNOW BUILDUPS AROUND THE TOPS OF RWY LIGHT LENSES. THUS OBSTRUCTING 360 DEGS ILLUMINATION.