Crj-900 flight crew is informed during a night visual approach that the runway lights will not come ...

Narrative:

Shortly after contacting tower on approach we were informed that runway lights at the airport were not coming on and the tower was unable to reset. The captain decided to continue the landing. At that time I informed the captain that I believed that it was not legal to land without operating runway lights at night (I was about 95% sure). The captain said that she would take full responsibility for the landing and would file an as soon as possible report if needed. She did inform me that either one of us could call the abort if we could not find the runway. She asked me to inform the tower that we would continue with the landing. Tower told us to proceed at our own risk. A few seconds later tower asked us if they should increase the intensity of the taxiway lights. We said yes. At this point I could see the airport complex. I was not able to see the runway except for a black rectangle devoid of any lights. I was about to call for a go around when the captain said she had the runway in sight. We landed without any further incident after which the captain said that she had very good night vision. I should have been more assertive and insisted that we not continue the approach. Had I been in command I would have aborted the landing and gone into a hold when the tower informed us about the runway lights not working especially given the fact we had sufficient fuel. That would have given us enough time to let the tower work on the lighting issue and for us to verify the far's/fom. The reason I did not assert myself further was two fold. I was not 100% sure of the illegality of the landing and I was worried about the captains reaction had I forced the issue and turned out to be wrong. There had already been a few instances during the short flight that the captain had overruled my decisions on some minor instances in which I knew I was correct. Thus I assumed I would have been overruled.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: CRJ-900 flight crew is informed during a night visual approach that the runway lights will not come on. The Captain elects to continue; the First Officer is not so sure; but agrees and a normal landing ensues.

Narrative: Shortly after contacting Tower on approach we were informed that runway lights at the airport were not coming on and the Tower was unable to reset. The Captain decided to continue the landing. At that time I informed the Captain that I believed that it was not legal to land without operating runway lights at night (I was about 95% sure). The Captain said that she would take full responsibility for the landing and would file an ASAP report if needed. She did inform me that either one of us could call the abort if we could not find the runway. She asked me to inform the Tower that we would continue with the landing. Tower told us to proceed at our own risk. A few seconds later Tower asked us if they should increase the intensity of the taxiway lights. We said yes. At this point I could see the airport complex. I was not able to see the runway except for a black rectangle devoid of any lights. I was about to call for a go around when the Captain said she had the runway in sight. We landed without any further incident after which the Captain said that she had very good night vision. I should have been more assertive and insisted that we not continue the approach. Had I been in command I would have aborted the landing and gone into a hold when the Tower informed us about the runway lights not working especially given the fact we had sufficient fuel. That would have given us enough time to let the Tower work on the lighting issue and for us to verify the FAR's/FOM. The reason I did not assert myself further was two fold. I was not 100% sure of the illegality of the landing and I was worried about the Captains reaction had I forced the issue and turned out to be wrong. There had already been a few instances during the short flight that the Captain had overruled my decisions on some minor instances in which I knew I was correct. Thus I assumed I would have been overruled.

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	1181543
Time
Date	201406
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	Regional Jet 900 (CRJ900)
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown

Crj-900 flight crew is informed during a night visual approach that the runway lights will not come on. The captain elects to continue; the first officer is not so sure; but agrees and a normal landing ensues.