ON APCH TO CAE FLC OFFERED VISUAL. ALIGNED VISUALLY WITH COLUMBIA DOWNTOWN ARPT; ADVISED BY APCH CTLR; SPOTTED CAE AND PROCEEDED VISUAL FOR LNDG.

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WE WERE DSNDING IN NIGHT VMC; WITH CAE VOR TUNED IDENTED OM FOR RWY 112 KCAE TUNED. AS WE DSNDED FROM 11000 MSL TO 4000 MSL; ABOUT 25 MI NE OF CAE HDG SW; COLUMBIA APCH CTL OFFERED US A VISUAL APCH TO KCAE RWY 11. WE INITIALLY REFUSED TO CANCEL BECAUSE WE WERE UNFAMILIAR WITH THE GEOGRAPHY; ALTHOUGH WE DID HAVE AN ARPT BEACON IN SIGHT. AT 4000 FT; WE DID PICK UP THRESHOLD LIGHTS; AND RWY LIGHTS; IN ADDITION TO THE BEACON. WE TUNED IN THE ILS (110.3) FOR KCAE; AND REQUESTED ANOTHER VECTOR AND DSCNT FROM APCH. APCH CTL ALSO TURNED UP THE RWY LIGHTS (HIRL; CL; ALSF-II; TDZ). WE TURNED TO 290 DEG AND DSNDED TO 2100 FT; AND ; FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY CAREER AS A CAPT; I ACCEPTED A NIGHT VISUAL APCH TO A STRANGE FIELD BEFORE I WAS CONVENIENTLY ALIGNED FOR LNDG. WE BEGAN AND CONTINUED OUR CONFIGN TO GEAR DOWN; THEN BEGAN A DSNDING L BASE TURN. WE DID NOT HAVE THE RWY LIGHTS AS PREVIOUSLY DESCRIBED IN SIGHT. AS WE ROLLED OUT ON BASE; APCH CTL ASKED 'YOU ARE NOT TURNING TOWARDS DOWNTOWN COLUMBIA ARPT; ARE YOU?' WE MADE AN UNINTELLIGIBLE REMARK; AT WHICH TIME I LOOKED TO MY R AND SAW KCAE. WE WERE TOLD WE COULD MAINTAIN 1700 MSL AND FROM PRESENT POS CONTINUED A VISUAL TO KCAE RWY 11. I HAD LEVELED AT APPROX 1200 MSL ND HAD FO ASK IF WE NEEDED TO CLB BACK UP TO 1700. WE WERE TOLD WE WERE ON A VISUAL; AND A CLB WAS; BASICALLY; UP TO OUR DISCRETION. WE FLEW A L DOWNWIND; L BASE AND FINAL TO AN UNEVENTFUL LNDG AT COLUMBIA METRO.