“Too bad they didn’t get their money’s worth in the person assigned to
turn on the runway lights.”
Maybe.
But it sounds like an automated system that would switch on automatically
when an emergency landing call would come in. Maybe it’s poorly written:
“The problem was then further compounded when the airfield automated
lights failed to activate when Epperson and his Flight leader radioed
in the emergency.”
I’d love to know if, after the crash, somebody said “NEVER buy those
d-mned Made In China Christmas Tree Lights for the runway again!”
Regardless of details...this sort of “landing” should get included
in some special “survival tales” of History Channel’s “Dogfights”.
It sounds as if the lights were pilot controlled runway/approach lights. The pilot sets a certain frequency into his radio and keys his mike a set number of times in 5 seconds. The number of times he keys the mike increases the intensity of the lighting. There is no one on the ground to turn the lights on or off. These type of airfield lighting is common at uncontrolled airfields.