Narrative:

As we were cruising to cha; the captain began to get the weather for cha. Since we were running late due to storms earlier in the day the tower closed before we reached the airport. I then pulled the weather up again just to double check the notams that are placed on the recording when the tower shuts down. The weather was the same. 10SM visibility and there was a broken layer; but it was above our altitude. The notams had changed saying that runway 2-20 was closed; but runway 15-33 was open and that they had set the lighting to medium intensity. We both listened to this several times making sure that we were hearing it correctly. We continued into the airport and set up for the visual to 33 with a GPS back up. We were talking to atlanta center at the time and we picked up the beacon and the PAPI lights so we were cleared for the visual approach. As we got closer to the runway; we discovered that we could not see the actual runway surface. We then tried to activate lighting via pilot controlled lighting just hoping that it might work since this runway does not have pilot controlled lighting. We then decided to go-around since the lights weren't coming on. As I made a turn to re-enter the downwind; I noticed that runway 2-20 lights were on and were either set to medium or high intensity. We got back on with atlanta center and ask him if chattanooga mentioned anything to him about the conditions of the lighting. He said they had done that the past couple nights and that runway 2-20 was closed. I then made a turn towards the northeast thinking that we would either be going back or to a diversion airport. The captain was messaging dispatch and they asked if we could make it back; but we did not have the fuel to return. They say go to ZZZ; so we changed our destination to ZZZ. Atlanta gave us a clearance and we continued. Dispatch messaged again saying they can't reach anyone at ZZZ operations and ask if we could go to ZZZ1; but we did not have the fuel for that either. We continued on to ZZZ. Once we arrived; rampers were waiting for us and we get waved in. Captain got on phone with dispatch and the decision came that the passengers will be bused to cha and we repo'd. I believe that this event occurred due to tower either forgetting to turn on the runway 15-33 lights or accidentally turned on runway 2-20 out of habit since we saw the lights on for that runway. I am not sure if runway 2-20 lights came on when we tried to activate lights for runway 15-33 or if they were on the entire time though. But since the notams on the weather report said that runway 2-20 was closed we could not land on it.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier First Officer reports arriving at CHA after the Tower has closed to find the runway lights on for Runway 2/20; which is NOTAMed closed and the lights off for Runway 15/33; and not controllable by radio. Flight diverts to a suitable alternate.

Narrative: As we were cruising to CHA; the Captain began to get the weather for CHA. Since we were running late due to storms earlier in the day the Tower closed before we reached the airport. I then pulled the weather up again just to double check the NOTAMs that are placed on the recording when the Tower shuts down. The weather was the same. 10SM visibility and there was a BKN layer; but it was above our altitude. The NOTAMs had changed saying that Runway 2-20 was closed; but Runway 15-33 was open and that they had set the lighting to medium intensity. We both listened to this several times making sure that we were hearing it correctly. We continued into the airport and set up for the visual to 33 with a GPS back up. We were talking to Atlanta Center at the time and we picked up the beacon and the PAPI lights so we were cleared for the visual approach. As we got closer to the runway; we discovered that we could not see the actual runway surface. We then tried to activate lighting via Pilot Controlled Lighting just hoping that it might work since this runway does not have Pilot Controlled Lighting. We then decided to go-around since the lights weren't coming on. As I made a turn to re-enter the downwind; I noticed that Runway 2-20 lights were on and were either set to medium or high intensity. We got back on with Atlanta Center and ask him if Chattanooga mentioned anything to him about the conditions of the lighting. He said they had done that the past couple nights and that Runway 2-20 was closed. I then made a turn towards the northeast thinking that we would either be going back or to a diversion airport. The Captain was messaging Dispatch and they asked if we could make it back; but we did not have the fuel to return. They say go to ZZZ; so we changed our destination to ZZZ. Atlanta gave us a clearance and we continued. Dispatch messaged again saying they can't reach anyone at ZZZ Operations and ask if we could go to ZZZ1; but we did not have the fuel for that either. We continued on to ZZZ. Once we arrived; rampers were waiting for us and we get waved in. Captain got on phone with Dispatch and the decision came that the passengers will be bused to CHA and we REPO'd. I believe that this event occurred due to Tower either forgetting to turn on the Runway 15-33 lights or accidentally turned on Runway 2-20 out of habit since we saw the lights on for that runway. I am not sure if Runway 2-20 lights came on when we tried to activate lights for Runway 15-33 or if they were on the entire time though. But since the NOTAMs on the weather report said that Runway 2-20 was closed we could not land on it.

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.