WRONG RWY LNDG BY SMT.

Narrative

THE PROBLEM STARTED WHEN WE WERE OVER THE CITY OF RICHMOND. DUE TO THE BRIGHT LIGHTS OF THE CITY; WE WERE UNABLE TO SEE THE ARPT. WE WERE BEING GIVEN VECTORS AROUND THE ARPT. RICHMOND APCH CTL WAS TOLD THAT WE COULD NOT SEE THE ARPT. WE WERE THEN GIVEN VECTORS TOWARD THE ARPT AND TOLD TO LAND ON 20. AS WE TURNED TO THE ARPT WE SAW AN EXTREMELY BRIGHT RWY -- ALL THE LIGHTS WERE ON BRIGHT WITH LEAD-IN LIGHTS. IT WAS THE ONLY RWY WE SAW. HOWEVER; IT WAS RWY 16 INSTEAD OF RWY 20. WE LANDED ON RWY 16 AND NEVER SAW RWY 20. WE SHOULD HAVE CHKED OUR DIRECTIONAL GYROSCOPE; BUT DID NOT. IF RWY 16 HAD NOT BEEN SO MUCH BRIGHTER THAN ANYTHING ELSE; WE PROBABLY WOULD NOT HAVE MADE THIS MISTAKE. THE TWR WAS LNDG ALL TFC ON 20; SO THERE WERE NO INCIDENTS OTHER THAN OUR MISTAKE. ALSO TWR SEEMED IN A HURRY FOR US TO LAND. IF RWY 20 WAS THE ACTIVE; I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY RWY 16 WAS BY FAR THE BRIGHTEST RWY ON THE ARPT. IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE SAME INTENSITY AS THE OTHERS. THERE WAS NOT A ROTATING BEACON VISIBLE AT THE ARPT WHICH MADE IT HARDER TO IDENT. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 199188: WE WERE GIVEN VECTORS TO HELP FIND THE ARPT. THE BRIGHT CITY LIGHTS PROHIBITED OUR SEEING THE ARPT LIGHTS. THE LAST VECTOR WAS FOR A R BASE TO LAND ON RWY 20. WHEN WE FINALLY SAW RWY LIGHTS WHICH WERE EXTREMELY BRIGHT (THE BRIGHTEST LIGHTS ON THE ARPT); WE TURNED IN FOR FINAL APCH AFTER BEING CLRED TO LAND. THE LIGHTS WERE SO BRIGHT THAT THEY LED US DIRECTLY TO THE RWY. AFTER LNDG; WE WERE TOLD BY RIC TWR THAT WE HAD LANDED ON RWY 16 INSTEAD OF RWY 20. OUR MISTAKE WAS IN NOT VERIFYING THE ACFT HDG WITH RWY HDG. ATC'S MISTAKE WAS IN HAVING RWY 16 LIGHTS TOO BRIGHT; SINCE IT WAS NOT IN USE AT THE TIME. WE NEVER SAW THE LEAD-IN LIGHTS FOR RWY 20 BECAUSE OF THE BRIGHTNESS OF RWY 16. I NEVER EVEN SAW THE ROTATING BEACON. PLTS SHOULD ALWAYS VERIFY ACFT HDG WITH RWY HDG; PARTICULARLY AT NIGHT. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: RPTR GAVE MORE INFO REF ACFT AND ROLES OF 2 FLC MEMBERS. IS VERY FAMILIAR WITH FLYING INTO RIC ARPT; BUT EVEN SO HAS TROUBLE FINDING THE ARPT LIGHTS AT NIGHT WHEN LNDG TO THE S AND APCHING OVER THE LIGHTS OF THE CITY. HAD MADE APCH TO ARPT FROM THE SW ON THIS NIGHT. SAYS VOICE INFLECTION OF TWR CTLR INDICATED THAT THEY WERE ANXIOUS FOR ACFT TO GET ON THE GND SO THAT TWR COULD COMBINE POS FOR MIDWATCH. STILL DOES NOT KNOW IF RWY 20 LIGHTS CAN BE SET AT HIGHER INTENSITY.