Date: 201508
Local time of day: 1801-2400
Location: CRP.Airport, TX
Flight conditions: Mixed
Light: Night
Aircraft: Large Transport; Low Wing; 2 Turbojet Eng
Operator: Air Carrier
Operating under: Part 121
Flight plan: IFR
Mission: Passenger
Flight phase: Final Approach
Airspace: Class C CRP
ATC / advisory: Tower CRP
Reporter organization: Air Carrier
Reporter function: Captain
Reporter qualification: Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Human factors: Confusion; Distraction
Anomaly: Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Detector: Person Flight Crew
When detected: In-flight
Result: Flight Crew Became Reoriented; Flight Crew Executed Go Around / Missed Approach
Contributing factors: Equipment / Tooling; Airport; ATC Equipment / Nav Facility / Buildings
Primary problem: Airport

Narrative: At the end of a very long day; we were flying a scheduled flight into CRP at night. I had only flown into CRP two or three times; and never at night. The FO had never been there. The primary runway; 13; was closed; and there was a broken cloud deck at 1500 ft north of the airport. We were flying in an [aircraft that] precluded us from flying the straight-in RNAV approach to Runway 18. Instead; our only option was to fly the VOR approach that had an inbound course that was offset 12 degrees from the runway. There was an intermediate level off at 700 ft; at the WUNEV intersection; which was also the point at which a descent to landing should have already been initiated. For those of you who are also unfamiliar with CRP; there are several refineries; with tall smoke stacks and numerous other tall obstacles; and countless bright lights along the shoreline north of the airport only two or three miles from the end of the runway. When we reached 700 ft and tried to find the runway lights; we found it IMPOSSIBLE; with our level of inexperience flying into CRP; to pick out the runway lights through all the bright lights of the refineries. We initiated a missed approach; and only after beginning our climb were we able to pick up the runway. I then had to decide which was the safer course of action?: (1) Circle back around to try a visual approach to Runway 18; staying to the south of the refinery obstacles and the broken deck north of the airport; or (2) make an ILS Approach to Runway 36; with a quartering left tailwind of 13 knots. We ran the numbers on the OPC; and it showed we would land with a nine-knot tailwind component; with Max braking (or no auto braking). I elected to land on Runway 18; and used max braking; and the approach and landing was uneventful.In an airport like CRP; if the primary Runway 13 is closed; and there is weather that precludes a visual descent and landing to Runway 18; a [an aircraft with more advanced avionics] should be substituted on that flight; to give the Pilots a chance of picking up the runway visually. This would avoid the very uncomfortable and potentially hazardous situation that we found ourselves in that night.




Synopsis: When the main instrument runway was closed at the destination airport; this crew was forced to execute a non-precision approach to an alternate runway. They had difficulty acquiring the runway environment on the first attempt; but after a go-around and subsequent approach they accomplished an uneventful landing.