Regional Jet 200 ER/LR (CRJ200)
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Situational Awareness
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Flight Crew Became Reoriented
ATC Equipment / Nav Facility / Buildings; Airport; Human Factors; Weather
After Center gave us the hand over to CTAF; we did a call for the base to final turn and we intercepted the ILS and we were configured for the ILS. Weather was at mins for a High mins Captain; and the airport was reported covered with a thin snow layer over the runways and taxiways. At that point I remember to click the lights for the airport. I did it on the Yoke control and on the RTU switch; just in case. Passing the call of 200 feet I thought on a Go Around if I cannot see the runway. After the 100 foot call I saw the runway but it was not lights on as usual. I did key once again the switch to turn the lights on. (Later my First Officer told me that he also tried to key the light on). The runway was in sight; I can see the terminal; the taxi ways; the crossing runway and the runway. I can see the threshold; the edge of the runway and the end of the runway too. At this point I call the airport in sight and we continued to land; thinking the lights were obscured by the snow cover. We were stable and in a point where we can land the airplane with normal maneuver and with the runway in sight. After we landed; we taxi to the gate and the gate agents ask about the lights on the runway; and we found the lights were never on. Miss interpretation of the light snow cover. Go around.  Use of the Threat or Error Management to my advantage and have that extra time to create more time to understand the situation and come up with a new plan to do another approach.
During the approach I was the pilot flying. On the ILS the weather was at mins (light blowing snow and rwy had patchy snow covering reported which turned out to be actually completely covered with approximately an inch of snow) for HIGH mins Capt to an airport with a closed tower. We executed all proper radio calls; call-outs; and flight maneuvers to mins. At mins the Capt had the field in sight and I transitioned to landing per the SOP. This was my first true IMC instrument approach outside of trng. After breaking out of the weather and hitting approx 100 feet I asked the pilot to turn up the lights using the pilot controlled lighting so the field was a little easier to see. He performed the action. At 50 feet I could still see the runway and figured the Capt didn't key the mike enough times so I keyed the mike in order to increase lighting intensity. In the flare I noted or asked the pilot where the airfield lights were since it was pretty dark and I assumed maybe the airport runway lights were obscured due to the snow depth. We landed and brought the aircraft to a safe stop and taxied slowly to the gate. During taxi I again clicked the MIC to bring the lights up. On taxi in ( at least 1-2 mins after I attempted to turn the lights up) the lights became bright and I noted they must have been either at the lowest setting or off. When we got to the gate the ground crew mentioned that the lights had been off for our landing. Being new I asked the pilot if that was normal and stated that in the future I would have just gone around and re-attempted the lights to make them brighter. That evening we began looking for references in the FOM/SOP to see if we missed something or mistakenly deviated from a procedure. We continued our trip uneventfully the following day and we again discussed the events and the Captain said he would like to run this by the Chief Pilot as well. On return to base I did more research and found a reference in the SOP/FOM for landing lights and notified the Captain. We agreed on the following morning; after showing him the reference; that an ASAP should be accomplished and that he was still going to discuss this with the Chief pilot to see how this could be handled in the future should a similar event occur. Cause1) Failure to recognize that airfield landing lights were not on too low but likely were off; despite requesting them to be turned up. Ambient lighting coupled with landing lights enabled airfield to be seen but lighting should have been higher. 2) Channelization on flying the approach to mins and simply asking to increase the lighting I should have just called missed approach despite the Captain stating he had the field in sight. While I could see the runway too it didn't occur that ambient light coupled with snow on the runway was enabling me to see the field. When I realized the lights weren't properly on the aircraft was just about to touch down. SuggestionsAfter the plane was shut down I initiated a debrief with the pilot regarding the lights. We discussed it with the person driving a truck on the field (possibly an airfield person or follow me driver) to determine how the lights came on. It is possible that the Pilot Controlled Lights didn't work or that we were on an incorrect frequency or simply didn't key the MIC enough. The bottom line is to discontinue the approach when I first asked to have the lights turned up as that was my primary indication that the field was not lit enough or properly. From an operational perspective having 2 new pilots in the cockpit made this a CRM issue which we also discussed.
CRJ-200 flight crew describes a night IMC ILS to minimums with the First Officer flying. The mic is keyed multiple times by both pilots on the CTAF to bring up the runway lights. At minimums the runway is in sight but the lights appear to be off and the mic is keyed again with negative results. A normal landing ensues and the lights come on bright during taxi in. The Captain was new to the seat and on high minimums; and the First Officer was new to the airline.