19950114010619I

Narrative: on January 14, 1995, at 0617 CST, a Cessna 421B, N65AE, registered to riley aviation, inc., sturgis, mi landed on runway 30, Monroe, WI (mro), skidded off to the left of runway and sheered off 5 runway lights, while on a revenue FAR 135 flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and an IFR flight plan was filed. The aircraft sustained minor damage and the pilot and one passenger were not injured. The flight originated at sturgis, mi with the intended destination of Monroe, WI to pick up a passenger and return to sturgis, MI. The pilot stated that he came into Monroe, WI somewhere between 6:00AM and 6:15AM, that rockford approach said there was light rain at jvl, a plane just landed at jvl, reported good braking, gave vectors to mro and was cleared to 2600. He said while he was getting vectors he was 11 DME at jvl just below cloud base. Base was between 12,500 and 17,000. Would be about 1600 AGL. He stated he had clear lights below and 3 to 4 miles estimated visibility and then cleared for approach to mro vor/dme runway 30. Winds were reported light and variable out of the north. At juper (final approach fix) started down VFR, did not have light in sight but had in sight a few seconds later. Then continued down to about 1900 ft. MSL and then came up along north side of runway between 11 and 17 DME. Called Monroe on UNICOM 123.05MHZ. Broadcast in the blind to notify arrival and activate runway light. Had runway flying downwind to 4 miles out. Shortly after juper, came down to north side of runway flying downwind to 12. Circle with crosswind entry to 30. At this time had landing lights on flew over runway and could see runway nos. (White in contrast to black runway.) No visual indication of snow or ice. Entered downwind for 30. Completed prelanding checklist. Again broadcast, downwind landing on 30. Turned base, turned final and continued descent, lowered flap and came in for the landing. Had perfect runway alignment. Touched down, landed soft, and started encountering a left drift. Figured it was due to wind out of the north. Had 30 to 40 degree crosswind. Initiated differential power. Little more power on left engine. Felt if made any more correction the aircraft would have done a 180. Left main gear went off left side of runway into the dirt and as soon as that happened there was concern about side loading. So excessive correction was not used. Landing lights showed runway lights and aircraft was kept in a straight forward motion to avoid excessive side loading on aircraft. After 200 to 300 feet the forward speed slowed sufficiently to bring aircraft back on runway and maintain control. Which he said he did. Taxied clear of active and stopped aircraft. The engines were shut down and the aircraft was inspected. The loran antenna was hit and appeared to be the only damage. Pilot stated that upon taxiing clear of the runway, he did a visual inspection of entire aircraft. He said he found the loran antenna broken with about 2 inches missing. There were small scratches on bottom of fuselage aft of antenna. No other damage noted. Called brian riley, owner/operator, at home base for instructions. He returned the call and told him to do another thorough inspection and to fly the aircraft unpressurized. The aircraft was subsequently flown back to sturgis, MI. Pilot was counseled by operations inspector. Also accomplished FAR 135 proficiency check ride on 3-23-95.