AN ACR CAPT RPTS THAT THE SDF APCH CTLR WAS VECTORING ACFT FOR VISUAL APCHS; BUT THAT PLTS WERE NOT ABLE TO SEE THE ARPT BECAUSE THE RWY LIGHTS WERE NOT TURNED ON. THEN; WHEN THE RPTR COULD NOT RPT THE ARPT IN SIGHT (ARPT WAS AT THE ACFT'S 6 O'CLOCK POS); THE RPTR RECEIVED AN NDB APCH. RPTR ALSO CITES THAT NOTAMS DID NOT ACTUALLY REFLECT THE ARPT'S OPERATIONAL STATUS.

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DON'T KNOW IF IT WAS CTLR'S DEFICIENCY; INSUFFICIENT STAFFING; OVERWHELMING TFC; OR A COMBINATION OF ALL THREE; BUT THE SIT IN LOUISVILLE WAS OUT OF HAND. AS WE FLEW OVER THE ARPT AT 6000 FT MSL FOR VECTORS TO RWY 1 (HAVING COME FROM CVG) WE HEARD THE CTLR ASKING ANOTHER PLT IF HE HAD THE FIELD IN SIGHT AT 8 NM ON HIS NOSE. WE LOOKED DOWN AND SAW ALL THE RWY AND APCH LIGHTS FOR RWYS 35 AND 1 WERE OFF. WE ASKED FOR THEM TO BE TURNED UP. THEN ABEAM THE OM FOR RWY 1 HDG 200 DEGS; HE ASKED IF WE HAD RWY IN SIGHT (6 MI DIRECTLY BEHIND AIRPLANE). ASKED FOR A VECTOR TO FINAL AND WERE GIVEN A 160 DEG TURN AND CLRED FOR AN NDB RWY 1 APCH -- LUCKILY IT WAS VFR. COMPLICATING THINGS WAS THE LACK OF OPERATING NAVAIDS TO RWYS. BY NOTAM RWY 1 LOC WAS OTS. ON ATIS RWY 35 LOC WAS OTS. ALSO RWYS 1 AND 29 GS WERE OTS. THERE WERE NO PAPI OR VASI. UPON SUBSEQUENT TKOF FROM SDF OVERHEARD ANOTHER ACR PLT TELL SAME CTLR HE HAD TRIED TO CALL HIM 4 OR 5 TIMES TO VERIFY AN ASSIGNED HDG. IT NEEDS TO BE DETERMINED: WHY CTLING WAS SO BAD; WHY FACILITY IS ALLOWED TO OPERATE WITHOUT NAVAIDS; AND WHY RWY LIGHTS WERE NOT ON AT NIGHT. IT'S BAD ENOUGH FIGHTING YOUR OWN BODY AT NIGHT WITHOUT HAVING SO MUCH DEP FROM SOP'S. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: RPTR CONCEDED THAT THE CTLR MAY HAVE BEEN UNDER THE GUN WITH A HVY WORKLOAD THAT WAS FURTHER COMPLICATED WITH SO MANY NAVAIDS OTS. NONE OF THE RWY LIGHTS WERE ON.