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A flight instructor reported comments by ATC after he had activated the airport lighting while flying overhead as this could impact other traffic.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1324218 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201601 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1801-2400 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | SUA.Airport |
| State Reference | FL |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | VMC |
| Light | Night |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | PA-28 Cherokee/Archer/Dakota/Pillan/Warrior |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 91 |
| Flight Phase | Cruise |
| Route In Use | Direct |
| Flight Plan | VFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Instructor Pilot Not Flying |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 211 Flight Crew Total 771 Flight Crew Type 743 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Other / Unknown |
Narrative:
I was doing a night VFR cross country to pbi with a part-141 student... My student used sua as a checkpoint. Upon arriving over sua; the airport was dark with no runway lights on. I used the pilot controlled lighting frequency and activated the runway lights to high intensity to show my student where sua was as he could not find it... Pbi approach then asked me if I was the one who turned on the runway lighting (sua was asking pbi approach)... I was un-aware that sua increased their operational hours to [later in the evening]. I admitted that it was me. I was then told my pbi tower that I was given a possible pilot deviation for said action of turning on the runway lights @ sua. I then called sua and proceeded to talk with them. We had a discussion and was told that no action would be taken and that they would appreciate if it was not done again. I can understand the possible consequences that could result of turning on the runway lights at both a controlled/uncontrolled airport at night without listening in on the frequency first to determine traffic status... I should also consult the AFD before turning on the runway lights at a controlled airport to verify operational time.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: A flight instructor reported comments by ATC after he had activated the airport lighting while flying overhead as this could impact other traffic.
Narrative: I was doing a night VFR cross country to PBI with a part-141 student... My student used SUA as a checkpoint. Upon arriving over SUA; the airport was dark with no runway lights on. I used the pilot controlled lighting frequency and activated the runway lights to high intensity to show my student where SUA was as he could not find it... PBI approach then asked me if I was the one who turned on the runway lighting (SUA was asking PBI approach)... I was un-aware that SUA increased their operational hours to [later in the evening]. I admitted that it was me. I was then told my PBI tower that I was given a possible pilot deviation for said action of turning on the runway lights @ SUA. I then called SUA and proceeded to talk with them. We had a discussion and was told that no action would be taken and that they would appreciate if it was not done again. I can understand the possible consequences that could result of turning on the runway lights at both a controlled/uncontrolled airport at night without listening in on the frequency first to determine traffic status... I should also consult the AFD before turning on the runway lights at a controlled airport to verify operational time.
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.