IFR single engine pilots completed a night landing at evb when he could see the PAPI but not the run...

Narrative:

We were on our way back to evb 20 miles. We listened to the ATIS and it said sky condition clear and 10 SM visibility. After some time orl approach handed us over to dab approach; they told us to expect RNAV 29 into evb. We asked him if we could go visual because I had the field in sight. Then he said that the field was IFR so expect RNAV 29. When we were coming in on final we could see the PAPI lights from 2-3 miles out but could not see the runway lights. This was after the tower closed. We could see the papis so we descended down to 100 ft above TDZ (touch down zone). We could see the runway but not the runway lights so we went missed and requested the tower to switch on the lights. He told us that they were on high intensity. We thought about diverting but were not sure if we would have enough fuel to come back if we had the same conditions there as well. Now we had around 1 hour of fuel remaining. We decided to try RNAV 29 again. When we were on RNAV 29 second time; the aircraft in front of us landed safely so we followed him and made the landing. The layer of fog was from the surface to about 20 ft only. Above that it was perfectly clear. Even after landing we could see the taxiway lights but not the runway lights. That made me conclude that the runway lights were not on and this weather that we encountered was not forecast so it did take us by surprise. I know that it was a stupid decision to land in such conditions but that was what felt right at that time.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: IFR single engine pilots completed a night landing at EVB when he could see the PAPI but not the runway lights in the fog. The pilots had previously made a go around for the same conditions.

Narrative: We were on our way back to EVB 20 miles. We listened to the ATIS and it said sky condition clear and 10 SM visibility. After some time ORL Approach handed us over to DAB Approach; they told us to expect RNAV 29 into EVB. We asked him if we could go visual because I had the field in sight. Then he said that the field was IFR so expect RNAV 29. When we were coming in on final we could see the PAPI lights from 2-3 miles out but could not see the runway lights. This was after the Tower closed. We could see the PAPIs so we descended down to 100 FT above TDZ (Touch Down Zone). We could see the runway but not the runway lights so we went missed and requested the Tower to switch on the lights. He told us that they were on high intensity. We thought about diverting but were not sure if we would have enough fuel to come back if we had the same conditions there as well. Now we had around 1 hour of fuel remaining. We decided to try RNAV 29 again. When we were on RNAV 29 second time; the aircraft in front of us landed safely so we followed him and made the landing. The layer of fog was from the surface to about 20 FT only. Above that it was perfectly clear. Even after landing we could see the taxiway lights but not the runway lights. That made me conclude that the runway lights were not on and this weather that we encountered was not forecast so it did take us by surprise. I know that it was a stupid decision to land in such conditions but that was what felt right at that time.

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.

Attributes
ACN	929094
Time
Date	201101
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	EVB.Airport
State Reference	FL
Environment
Flight Conditions	Mixed
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Small Aircraft High Wing 1 Eng Fixed Gear
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Landing
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Private Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 80 Flight Crew Total 199 Flight Crew Type 199
Person 2
Function	Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Private
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 85 Flight Crew Total 243
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural FAR Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

IFR single engine pilots completed a night landing at evb when he could see the PAPI but not the runway lights in the fog. The pilots had previously made a go around for the same conditions.