C177 pilot reports inability to activate the runway lights at smq during a night visual approach. Co...

Narrative:

When approaching the somerset airport (smq) under an IFR flight plan; it was VFR conditions and we canceled our IFR flight plan to continue the approach and landing at the airport under visual conditions. We were cleared to switch over the common traffic advisory frequency and we did. We attempted to turn on the airport lights by clicking the mic 5 times but nothing happened. We tried multiple times by clicking fast and slow but could not get the lights to turn on. We entered a standard pattern at the airport as we could see the beacon. We looked in the airport facility directory but there was nothing published about the lights. We also checked the approach plates but no further information about the lights. We finally were able to get a hold of someone at the front desk in the FBO and they turned on the airport lights. As it turns out; the lights were on a different frequency that was unpublished. There was no NOTAM in regards to the airport lights. We further found out after we landed that the airport lights frequency have been switched multiple times in the recent past. I feel like this is extremely dangerous as we were under an IFR flight plan and flying at night. Had there been any sort of emergency; we would not have been able to land (most likely). There should either be a NOTAM about the lights or they need to be published.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: C177 pilot reports inability to activate the runway lights at SMQ during a night visual approach. Communications are eventually established on Unicom and the runway lights are turned on.

Narrative: When approaching the Somerset Airport (SMQ) under an IFR flight plan; it was VFR conditions and we canceled our IFR flight plan to continue the approach and landing at the airport under visual conditions. We were cleared to switch over the common traffic advisory frequency and we did. We attempted to turn on the airport lights by clicking the mic 5 times but nothing happened. We tried multiple times by clicking fast and slow but could not get the lights to turn on. We entered a standard pattern at the airport as we COULD see the beacon. We looked in the airport facility directory but there was nothing published about the lights. We also checked the approach plates but no further information about the lights. We finally were able to get a hold of someone at the front desk in the FBO and they turned on the airport lights. As it turns out; the lights were on a different frequency that was unpublished. There was no NOTAM in regards to the airport lights. We further found out after we landed that the airport lights frequency have been switched multiple times in the recent past. I feel like this is extremely dangerous as we were under an IFR flight plan and flying at night. Had there been any sort of emergency; we would not have been able to land (most likely). There should either be a NOTAM about the lights or they need to be published.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 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	1067006
Time
Date	201302
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	SMQ.Airport
State Reference	NJ
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Cardinal 177/177RG
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Private
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 15 Flight Crew Total 240 Flight Crew Type 40
Events
Anomaly	No Specific Anomaly Occurred All Types

C177 pilot reports inability to activate the runway lights at smq during a night visual approach. Communications are eventually established on unicom and the runway lights are turned on.