Narrative:

We were returning to land at falcon field when we were instructed to enter left traffic for runway 22R. There were other airplanes arriving for landing; so we were sequenced as number three for landing and were instructed to follow the preceding aircraft on a final approach. The position of the aircraft was provided and I identified the aircraft and advised tower that I had the traffic in sight. Since I was instructing my student; my attention was divided between the traffic and my student. Soon I realized that we had lost visual contact with the aircraft I was supposed to follow; so I began to scan the area to re-establish visual contact. I identified an aircraft on final; so we continued the approach for landing. We proceeded turning base when we thought that our separation was adequate; only to find ourselves converging with another aircraft on final. I immediately made a sharp left turn to avoid a collision. The other aircraft on final made a call to tower asking about my airplane and why we were as close we were. Tower seemed to be unaware of the situation or they deemed it non-threatening (this I do not know). I advised tower that I indeed had made a left turn to avoid the other aircraft. I met with the pilot of the other aircraft on the ground and we discussed the situation. From my perspective; he was not at fault. I told him the situation and that the error on my part (identifying and following the wrong airplane) led to a near miss mid-air collision. In hindsight I should have advised tower that I had lost visual contact with the other aircraft in the first place. I could have also confirmed the position of the other aircraft to verify we were adequately separated. I am glad that we were continuously vigilant for any traffic conflicts which I believe allowed me to take the controls and maneuver to avoid the collision. A contributing factor that could have led to this mishap would be the fact that I let my guard down in controlled airspace.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Instructor pilot in light aircraft described an NMAC at FFZ when he followed the wrong aircraft to the airport.

Narrative: We were returning to land at Falcon Field when we were instructed to enter left traffic for Runway 22R. There were other airplanes arriving for landing; so we were sequenced as number three for landing and were instructed to follow the preceding aircraft on a final approach. The position of the aircraft was provided and I identified the aircraft and advised Tower that I had the traffic in sight. Since I was instructing my student; my attention was divided between the traffic and my student. Soon I realized that we had lost visual contact with the aircraft I was supposed to follow; so I began to scan the area to re-establish visual contact. I identified an aircraft on final; so we continued the approach for landing. We proceeded turning base when we thought that our separation was adequate; only to find ourselves converging with another aircraft on final. I immediately made a sharp left turn to avoid a collision. The other aircraft on final made a call to Tower asking about my airplane and why we were as close we were. Tower seemed to be unaware of the situation or they deemed it non-threatening (this I do not know). I advised Tower that I indeed had made a left turn to avoid the other aircraft. I met with the pilot of the other aircraft on the ground and we discussed the situation. From my perspective; he was not at fault. I told him the situation and that the error on my part (identifying and following the wrong airplane) led to a near miss mid-air collision. In hindsight I should have advised Tower that I had lost visual contact with the other aircraft in the first place. I could have also confirmed the position of the other aircraft to verify we were adequately separated. I am glad that we were continuously vigilant for any traffic conflicts which I believe allowed me to take the controls and maneuver to avoid the collision. A contributing factor that could have led to this mishap would be the fact that I let my guard down in controlled airspace.

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.