The pilot of a mooney reported inoperative landing and taxi lights that resulted in a runway excursi...

Narrative:

Landed on runway 33 at night; ending a flight that had begun before sunset. Had landing/taxi light switch 'on'; but upon touchdown discovered the lights were off. Taxied down the runway looking for a taxiway turn-off; but with no lights could not see the yellow lead line to either of the turn-offs ahead of me. I knew the last turn-off was at the end of the runway; but when I got there I could not determine where to start my right turn. I turned too soon and missed the asphalt turn-off; rolling onto the grass beside it instead. I then attempted a right u-turn on the grass; to get back onto the runway. Halfway through the u-turn; when I was headed approximately 150 degrees; the nose wheel and prop impacted a plastic sign located in the grass. The front side of the sign was lighted; but the rear side was not. Approaching the sign from its rear; it was dark and impossible to see.the aircraft had just come out of its annual inspection; which required removal of the engine cowling. To remove the lower cowling; the landing/taxi lights must be disconnected; and I suspect they were not reconnected when the cowling was put back in place. Otherwise; it would be highly unlikely that both bulbs would fail simultaneously.this would have been discovered in a thorough pre-flight; but unfortunately this item was missed.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: The pilot of a Mooney reported inoperative landing and taxi lights that resulted in a runway excursion and contact with a ground object. The pilot suspected that the lights were not reconnected when the cowling was reinstalled during the annual inspection.

Narrative: Landed on Runway 33 at night; ending a flight that had begun before sunset. Had landing/taxi light switch 'on'; but upon touchdown discovered the lights were off. Taxied down the runway looking for a taxiway turn-off; but with no lights could not see the yellow lead line to either of the turn-offs ahead of me. I knew the last turn-off was at the end of the runway; but when I got there I could not determine where to start my right turn. I turned too soon and missed the asphalt turn-off; rolling onto the grass beside it instead. I then attempted a right U-turn on the grass; to get back onto the runway. Halfway through the U-turn; when I was headed approximately 150 degrees; the nose wheel and prop impacted a plastic sign located in the grass. The front side of the sign was lighted; but the rear side was not. Approaching the sign from its rear; it was dark and impossible to see.The aircraft had just come out of its annual inspection; which required removal of the engine cowling. To remove the lower cowling; the landing/taxi lights must be disconnected; and I suspect they were not reconnected when the cowling was put back in place. Otherwise; it would be highly unlikely that both bulbs would fail simultaneously.This would have been discovered in a thorough pre-flight; but unfortunately this item was missed.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1329997
Time
Date	201602
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	M-20 K (231) / Encore
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	None
Component
Aircraft Component	Landing Light
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Commercial
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 10 Flight Crew Total 2230 Flight Crew Type 1900
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Procedural Maintenance Ground Event / Encounter Ground Strike - Aircraft Ground Excursion Runway

The pilot of a mooney reported inoperative landing and taxi lights that resulted in a runway excursion and contact with a ground object. The pilot suspected that the lights were not reconnected when the cowling was reinstalled during the annual inspection.