american eagle flight 2536 was scheduled to fly from dallas-fort worth international airport to wichita falls , texas , on sunday night .
the plane was nearly a half-hour late in taking off .
when it got to wichita falls , the pilot told passengers that the runway lights were turned off and there was nobody at the airport to turn them on .
the city 's aviation director said pilots were notified of the closure and the jet could have landed on an adjacent , 10,000-foot runway that was lit .