I am sooooo glad we have our own lights......
Yep - my old instructor told me that he did some hour buidling in the US. They could call up the lights from the VHF by using a series of "clicks", and land whenever they wanted. How much easier / more functional would that make life? At my airfield, someone called "downwind" at 6:58pm, and got asked what his alternate was as the airfield closed at 7pm! His nearest alternate was Luton - how much would that diversion have cost?
DW.
Edited to say - Sorry Bose-X I assumed you were American, but looking at your profile, you fly in the UK. Wish I had my own lights!