Narrative:

When landing at msy; runway lights were extremely bright! So bright that they are unsafe! We asked tower to turn them down. They said they could not. Msy tower has said that multiple pilots have complained and that they have forwarded our complaints; but that nothing has been done. They also said it has been this way for two weeks. Msy tower stated there is an issue with a transformer or voltage regulator and if they adjust the airport lights in the tower; they may lose them all. The lights were almost blinding upon landing and very disorienting. Once clear the runway; we had to come to a complete stop because we could barely see the aircraft that tower was telling us to go around on the taxiway. The taxiway lights were this bright! Msy is unsafe at night due to the high intensity lights!

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier pilot reported the runway and taxi lights at MSY are too bright. ATC advised they had had many complaints but were not allowed to attempt to lower their intensity lest they lose them altogether.

Narrative: When landing at MSY; runway lights were extremely bright! So bright that they are unsafe! We asked Tower to turn them down. They said they could not. MSY Tower has said that multiple pilots have complained and that they have forwarded our complaints; but that nothing has been done. They also said it has been this way for two weeks. MSY Tower stated there is an issue with a transformer or voltage regulator and if they adjust the airport lights in the Tower; they may lose them all. The lights were almost blinding upon landing and very disorienting. Once clear the runway; we had to come to a complete stop because we could barely see the aircraft that Tower was telling us to go around on the taxiway. The taxiway lights were this bright! MSY is unsafe at night due to the high intensity lights!

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.