Narrative:

[We] departed on a normal routine flight to sdm. Upon arrival; the weather was VFR with 7 miles visibility but being night; we elected to accept the GPS runway 8 approach to the field. All systems and conditions were normal but numerous attempts to activate the runway lights were unsuccessful. The area was well lighted from all the surrounding lights on the ground; but the runway lights simply would not activate. On the go around; we were instructed to 'turn left' due to terrain. There was no heading assigned so I simply rapidly spun the first officer's (first officer) heading bug to the left to comply with the left turn; knowing we would soon receive an assigned heading. I then proceeded to clean the aircraft up. We were also assigned 5;000 feet. [He] was climbing rapidly; and I advised him of such. In an attempt to catch our altitude; I told him I had the aircraft. He repeatedly stated; 'I've got it'. I finally told him he clearly did not have it and to let go. I was pushing on the yoke and continuing to climb. I am still not certain as to whether he was pulling on the yoke or if the aircraft was totally out of trim; but I pushed the trim forward and we started back down. We had momentarily reached an altitude of 5;500 [ft]. I informed ATC we could not activate the lights and she asked a helicopter in the area if he would fly over and activate the lights as she could not do it remotely. He was successful in that effort and I asked ATC for an extended vector for another approach. Upon our inbound turn; the airport was clearly visible with excellent lighting. We landed without incident. On deplaning; I apologized to the passengers for the delay in going around and they were not even aware that we had. We were never without sight to the ground as there was no visibility problem.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air taxi Captain reported difficulty in activating runway lights at night that led to a poorly executed go-around.

Narrative: [We] departed on a normal routine flight to SDM. Upon arrival; the weather was VFR with 7 miles visibility but being night; we elected to accept the GPS Runway 8 approach to the field. All systems and conditions were normal but numerous attempts to activate the runway lights were unsuccessful. The area was well lighted from all the surrounding lights on the ground; but the runway lights simply would not activate. On the go around; we were instructed to 'turn left' due to terrain. There was no heading assigned so I simply rapidly spun the FO's (First Officer) heading bug to the left to comply with the left turn; knowing we would soon receive an assigned heading. I then proceeded to clean the aircraft up. We were also assigned 5;000 feet. [He] was climbing rapidly; and I advised him of such. In an attempt to catch our altitude; I told him I had the aircraft. He repeatedly stated; 'I've got it'. I finally told him he clearly did NOT have it and to let go. I was pushing on the yoke and continuing to climb. I am still not certain as to whether he was pulling on the yoke or if the aircraft was totally out of trim; but I pushed the trim forward and we started back down. We had momentarily reached an altitude of 5;500 [ft]. I informed ATC we could not activate the lights and she asked a helicopter in the area if he would fly over and activate the lights as she could not do it remotely. He was successful in that effort and I asked ATC for an extended vector for another approach. Upon our inbound turn; the airport was clearly visible with excellent lighting. We landed without incident. On deplaning; I apologized to the passengers for the delay in going around and they were not even aware that we had. We were NEVER without sight to the ground as there was no visibility problem.

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.