A leg 2 pilot entered class B airspace from the north; erroneously headed southbound for a runway 17...

Attributes
ACN	1166455
Time
Date	201404
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	SLC.Airport
State Reference	UT
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Lancair Legacy
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Landing
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	VFR
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Private
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 60 Flight Crew Total 500 Flight Crew Type 135
Events
Anomaly	Conflict NMAC Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types
Miss Distance	Vertical 300

Narrative:

Inbound to a class B airport; from the north; southbound; I had ATIS; I knew which runway was active; but completely reversed everything in my head. Runway 17 was south of the airport; left downwind became right downwind. Twice the controller asked me to make a left turn; so I would head back north; I made a left 360 back onto the upwind of runway 17 thinking I was downwind 17.the second time he commanded a left turn; I also received a traffic alert from the tower; I passed about 300 ft underneath a cessna 172 or 182 that was on downwind headed north. I was in the turn headed east when I crossed his path. The controller made it known that I was going the wrong way; and so I did a 180 instead of a 360. Continued to land without incident.I learned that I need to continuously reevaluate my assumptions and decisions to ensure that I am interpreting what is happening around me correctly.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A LEG 2 pilot entered Class B airspace from the North; erroneously headed southbound for a Runway 17 landing; but continued south abeam and had near miss with a left downwind aircraft headed north for a Runway 17 base. ATC finally made the pilot understand his error.

Narrative: Inbound to a Class B airport; from the north; southbound; I had ATIS; I knew which runway was active; but completely reversed everything in my head. Runway 17 was south of the airport; left downwind became right downwind. Twice the Controller asked me to make a left turn; so I would head back north; I made a left 360 back onto the upwind of runway 17 thinking I was downwind 17.The second time he commanded a left turn; I also received a traffic alert from the Tower; I passed about 300 FT underneath a Cessna 172 or 182 that was on downwind headed north. I was in the turn headed east when I crossed his path. The controller made it known that I was going the wrong way; and so I did a 180 instead of a 360. Continued to land without incident.I learned that I need to continuously reevaluate my assumptions and decisions to ensure that I am interpreting what is happening around me correctly.

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.

A leg 2 pilot entered class B airspace from the north; erroneously headed southbound for a runway 17 landing; but continued south abeam and had near miss with a left downwind aircraft headed north for a runway 17 base. ATC finally made the pilot understand his error.