Date: 201409
Local time of day: 1801-2400
Location: LAF.Airport, IN
Flight conditions: VMC
Light: Night
Aircraft: Small Aircraft; High Wing; 1 Eng; Fixed Gear
Operator: FBO
Operating under: Part 91
Flight plan: VFR
Mission: Training
Flight phase: Cruise
Airspace: Class E ZAU
ATC / advisory: CTAF LAF
Reporter organization: FBO
Reporter function: Instructor
Reporter qualification: Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Commercial
Human factors: Workload; Communication Breakdown; Troubleshooting
Anomaly: Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Detector: Person Flight Crew
When detected: In-flight
Result: General None Reported / Taken
Contributing factors: Airport
Primary problem: Airport

Narrative: I was about to depart from my home base on a night VFR cross country training flight with a student to LAF. During our departure briefing; I received an urgent text message from a pilot who was airborne over LAF. That pilot was a customer of mine who I had checked out to fly our Company's aircraft. He informed me that he was unable to click on the pilot controlled lighting and was holding over LAF trying to figure it out. I advised the pilot to ensure he had his COM transmitter on the correct CTAF frequency and to click on the lights by pressing his push-to-talk switch 7 times. When that failed; he sent me another text saying so; and I told him to monitor frequency 123.45 and to wait for me to call him; which would be about 5-10 minutes; as I would be departing and be able to communicate with him on the air-to-air frequency.My student and I departed and got established on course. I then made contact with the other pilot on 123.45. By that time; a helicopter had departed LAF and had activated the pilot-controlled lighting there. The pilot I was communicating with was then able to land at the airport; and the situation was resolved.Upon arriving at LAF with my student; we attempted to click on the pilot controlled lighting; which did not work on our first attempt. On the second attempt; I had to click the mic more deliberately; holding the push-to-talk for approximately 1 second each time. That finally resulted in the lights coming on.The behavior of the pilot-controlled lighting at LAF is unusual for three reasons: 1. While the click configuration is standard (3 - low; 5 - medium; 7 - high); the system does not respond to clicks unless each one is at least one second long; which seems to suggest that the pilot-controlled lighting click detector has too high of a squelch setting. At every other airport I've visited at night; moderately-paced or even fast-paced clicks will result in a quick response from the pilot-controlled lighting. 2. On the low-intensity (3-click) setting; my student and I observed that the sequenced flashers on the Runway 10 MALSR system were intermittent. One minute they would be on; and the next minute they would be off. 3. In accordance with AIM Section 2-1-9; pilot-controlled lighting is supposed to remain on for a period of not less than 15 minutes. I can say with certainty that the lighting at LAF stays on for perhaps less than 10 minutes. Approaching the airport from 5 miles southeast; entering left traffic to Runway 10; and landing; the pilot-controlled lighting inevitably will turn off; forcing us to re-click the system. The timing of the auto-off functionality should be checked to ensure it is remaining on for at least 15 minutes.




Synopsis: An instructor reported the LAF pilot controlled lighting requires the each mike key be held at least one second to turn the runway lights ON and then the lights extinguish prior to the specified 15 minutes. At one second per mike key; 7 seconds would select High intensity; verse the 5 seconds specified.