Air carrier captain reported non functional PAPI lights at airport for a specific runway and the saf...

Attributes
ACN	1750882
Time
Date	202007
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZZ.Airport
State Reference	FO
Environment
Flight Conditions	IMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Commercial Fixed Wing
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 10 Flight Crew Total 18000 Flight Crew Type 11000
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

Narrative:

Just reporting the PAPI lights for runway X are out of service in ZZZZ. Due to the low visibility in rain showers; at night; we chose to land on runway yy with a slight tailwind; with operable PAPI lights; only because we were in an empty type X aircraft. If we were in a heavy type Y aircraft we would be forced to use runway X with no PAPI lights at night in the weather. Especially due to covid; pilots are not as proficient flying; we should have all resources available to conduct a safe operation. And just because ZZZZ airport has so few flights (we were the first flight in 2 months); does not mean they can allow those items to slide.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier Captain reported non functional PAPI lights at airport for a specific runway and the safety hazards it could pose in weather conditions; especially when crews are not flying as often due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Narrative: Just reporting the PAPI lights for Runway X are out of service in ZZZZ. Due to the low visibility in rain showers; at night; we chose to land on Runway YY with a slight tailwind; with operable PAPI lights; only because we were in an empty type X Aircraft. If we were in a heavy type Y Aircraft we would be forced to use Runway X with no PAPI lights at night in the weather. Especially due to COVID; pilots are not as proficient flying; we should have all resources available to conduct a safe operation. And just because ZZZZ airport has so few flights (we were the first flight in 2 months); does not mean they can allow those items to slide.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.

Air carrier captain reported non functional PAPI lights at airport for a specific runway and the safety hazards it could pose in weather conditions; especially when crews are not flying as often due to the covid-19 pandemic.