Narrative:

On final approach to runway 19 at jackson; following a B757; the non-flying pilot contacted the tower. We were inside of a 5 mile final and the tower controller told us that he was closed. The control of the lighting was switched over to pilot controlled. However; this only applies to the approach lighting system. The actual runway lights are left on medium intensity all night and cannot be adjusted; according to the AWOS.this proved to be dangerous to me and my flight as the runway lights were simply too bright and caused a glare on the windshield during the landing flare and rollout. The intensity of the runway lights caused an almost complete loss of depth perception. The landing was harder than normal; but otherwise safe. Contributing factors include bugs on the windshield and pitch black conditions surrounding the airport.I suggest that pilot controlled lighting of all the airport lights be resumed and that if the airport feels that they need to leave lighting on all night that they be left in the lowest setting possible; with the ability for pilot controlled lighting to turn the lights up when needed. It also seems that standard FAA practice is for the tower controller to remain working the position when an aircraft is on final and in radio contact. There were advisories and lighting issues that would have helped our flight be safer and not delayed the controller from duty release for more than a few minutes. I will not land the aircraft under these conditions again.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier Captain reports that the runway lights at JAC are set to a fixed medium intensity when the Tower is closed and are too bright.

Narrative: On final approach to Runway 19 at Jackson; following a B757; the non-flying pilot contacted the Tower. We were inside of a 5 mile final and the Tower Controller told us that he was closed. The control of the lighting was switched over to pilot controlled. However; this only applies to the approach lighting system. The actual runway lights are left on medium intensity all night and cannot be adjusted; according to the AWOS.This proved to be dangerous to me and my flight as the runway lights were simply too bright and caused a glare on the windshield during the landing flare and rollout. The intensity of the runway lights caused an almost complete loss of depth perception. The landing was harder than normal; but otherwise safe. Contributing factors include bugs on the windshield and pitch black conditions surrounding the airport.I suggest that pilot controlled lighting of all the airport lights be resumed and that if the airport feels that they need to leave lighting on all night that they be left in the lowest setting possible; with the ability for pilot controlled lighting to turn the lights up when needed. It also seems that standard FAA practice is for the Tower Controller to remain working the position when an aircraft is on final and in radio contact. There were advisories and lighting issues that would have helped our flight be safer and not delayed the Controller from duty release for more than a few minutes. I will not land the aircraft under these conditions again.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.