Narrative:

I was taking the position from a fellow tower controller; that had sequenced a BE18 in front of a [large transport] with a fast overtake. When I officially had the position; the BE18 was on landing roll; and [large transport] was on about a 1.5 mile final. The BE18 rolled by exit after exit; and looked like he would be able to take the midfield exit at A8. I instructed the pilot to 'turn right at A8 and contact ground .7 off the runway'. He turned the aircraft eastbound and both myself and my ground controller determined that he was clear of the runway. Apparently; however; he had made the turn and stopped on the runway; and [large transport] on very short final (who had a better vantage point from that angle) determined that he was not entirely clear and initiated a go around. It seemed very odd that this aircraft would have stopped on the runway; as there should have been ample time for him to clear before the [large transport] reached the threshold. A couple of minutes later we figured out why the BE18 stopped on the runway: a half hour earlier; when the previous tower controller had turned on the lights at sunset; she had neglected to turn on any taxiway lights on the field. The BE18 must have been having a hard time seeing the unlit taxiway.in hindsight; I should not have taken the position with the squeeze play the previous controller had been attempting to make work. If I would have known some of the decisions that were made prior to myself entering the tower cab; I would have waited until the [large transport] was on the ground. Second; I should have double checked all of the lights prior to taking the position from this controller. I saw the beacon and runway lights and assumed everything was on. I should have double checked; though. I didn't have time to check them once I had taken the position; as my focus was too great on making sure not to have a runway incursion.

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Aircraft landing at SMF delayed runway exit at taxiway. Following arrival noticed the aircraft still partially on the runway and initiated a go-around. The Tower Controller had failed to turn on the taxiway lights after sunset causing the first aircrafts confusion and delay exiting the runway.

Narrative: I was taking the position from a fellow tower controller; that had sequenced a BE18 in front of a [Large Transport] with a fast overtake. When I officially had the position; the BE18 was on landing roll; and [Large Transport] was on about a 1.5 mile final. The BE18 rolled by exit after exit; and looked like he would be able to take the midfield exit at A8. I instructed the pilot to 'turn right at A8 and contact ground .7 off the runway'. He turned the aircraft eastbound and both myself and my ground controller determined that he was clear of the runway. Apparently; however; he had made the turn and stopped on the runway; and [Large Transport] on very short final (who had a better vantage point from that angle) determined that he was not entirely clear and initiated a go around. It seemed very odd that this aircraft would have stopped on the runway; as there should have been ample time for him to clear before the [Large Transport] reached the threshold. A couple of minutes later we figured out why the BE18 stopped on the runway: a half hour earlier; when the previous tower controller had turned on the lights at sunset; she had neglected to turn on any taxiway lights on the field. The BE18 must have been having a hard time seeing the unlit taxiway.In hindsight; I should not have taken the position with the squeeze play the previous controller had been attempting to make work. If I would have known some of the decisions that were made prior to myself entering the tower cab; I would have waited until the [Large Transport] was on the ground. Second; I should have double checked all of the lights prior to taking the position from this controller. I saw the beacon and runway lights and assumed everything was on. I should have double checked; though. I didn't have time to check them once I had taken the position; as my focus was too great on making sure not to have a runway incursion.

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.