Narrative:

During the landing roll after touchdown when I began braking; I discovered that my left brake was inoperative with no pedal back pressure. Braking on the left side did not recover even by 'pumping' the brake. I began heavy braking using only the right brake and maintaining directional control with left rudder and nosewheel steering. Toward the end of the available runway there was insufficient directional control available to remain on the pavement and the plane briefly exited the right side of the runway. I was able to recover back to the paved runway surface; but still had a slight excess of speed above normal taxi speed. I attempted the right turnoff at the end of the runway onto [the] taxiway. During this turn the plane exited the taxiway on the left side; briefly. I was then able to regain control as the speed had slowed to normal. During the excursion from the taxiway; the plane struck a blue taxiway light with the left wheel or gear door.I reported the excursion to ground control and suggested they send someone to check the taxi light; since I could not tell for sure whether I had hit it or not. I was able to taxi the aircraft back to the hangars by using a very slow speed and only the right brake. There were no injuries. Post flight examination of the plane did not reveal any damage or marks from the taxi light. The weather at the time was cavu and essentially calm winds. The previous flight on the aircraft was a short flight to fill up with gas. During ground operations there; there was one instance where the left brake 'faded' slightly; but recovered when I 'pumped' the pedal once. I had normal braking after that and did not suspect brake failure at that time. The cause of this incident was the failure of the left brake. This will be corrected by a licensed mechanic prior to further flight.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Cessna 340 Captain reported a failure of the left main brake during the landing roll; which resulted in a runway excursion.

Narrative: During the landing roll after touchdown when I began braking; I discovered that my left brake was inoperative with no pedal back pressure. Braking on the left side did not recover even by 'pumping' the brake. I began heavy braking using only the right brake and maintaining directional control with left rudder and nosewheel steering. Toward the end of the available runway there was insufficient directional control available to remain on the pavement and the plane briefly exited the right side of the runway. I was able to recover back to the paved runway surface; but still had a slight excess of speed above normal taxi speed. I attempted the right turnoff at the end of the runway onto [the] taxiway. During this turn the plane exited the taxiway on the left side; briefly. I was then able to regain control as the speed had slowed to normal. During the excursion from the taxiway; the plane struck a blue taxiway light with the left wheel or gear door.I reported the excursion to Ground Control and suggested they send someone to check the taxi light; since I could not tell for sure whether I had hit it or not. I was able to taxi the aircraft back to the hangars by using a very slow speed and only the right brake. There were no injuries. Post flight examination of the plane did not reveal any damage or marks from the taxi light. The weather at the time was CAVU and essentially calm winds. The previous flight on the aircraft was a short flight to fill up with gas. During ground operations there; there was one instance where the left brake 'faded' slightly; but recovered when I 'pumped' the pedal once. I had normal braking after that and did not suspect brake failure at that time. The cause of this incident was the failure of the left brake. This will be corrected by a licensed mechanic prior to further flight.

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.