I mean...at a bigger airport the runway would just have built-in lighting, a situation like this one would never occur. Even at un-monitored (read: no ATC) airp

I mean...at a bigger airport the runway would just have built-in lighting, a situation like this one would never occur. Even at un-monitored (read: no ATC) airports the pilots themselves can turn on/off the lights via radio command, or the airport authorities just keep the lights on during night time or bad weather. Nobody would have to call up the airport manager because the problem would be dealt with. EDIT: I see now that the airport did have lights, but they happened to be out. Unfortunately the article gives no information as to why they were out, so I have no idea how that happened / was allowed.