An aircraft was issued traffic information and was instructed to follow the traffic for a visual app...

Attributes
ACN	1342082
Time
Date	201603
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	LGA.Airport
State Reference	NY
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Commercial Fixed Wing
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Person 2
Function	Captain
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Conflict Airborne Conflict Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

Narrative:

Going into the airport at night we were told to follow the river and maintain 4;000 feet. We did this. Then given a heading of 050 degrees and a descent. No problems there. Then given a base turn approximately 7 [to] 9 mile final. We were asked if we had the traffic in sight at our one o'clock. We did have that particular traffic in sight. We were cleared for the visual approach and instructed to follow the traffic at our 1 o'clock. We were about 5 miles behind him.there was also traffic at our 9:30/10 o'clock on final same altitude for the same runway. We realized were converging. We ask ATC; they say turn hard right (no heading); so we fly the plane in the manner needed to avoid the traffic and came back for an uneventful visual approach.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An aircraft was issued traffic information and was instructed to follow the traffic for a Visual Approach. The aircraft sighted and followed a different aircraft than the Controller intended them to follow.

Narrative: Going into the airport at night we were told to follow the river and maintain 4;000 feet. We did this. Then given a heading of 050 degrees and a descent. No problems there. Then given a base turn approximately 7 [to] 9 mile final. We were asked if we had the traffic in sight at our one o'clock. We did have THAT particular traffic in sight. We were cleared for the Visual Approach and instructed to follow the traffic at our 1 o'clock. We were about 5 miles behind him.There was also traffic at our 9:30/10 o'clock on final same altitude for the same runway. We realized were converging. We ask ATC; they say turn hard right (no heading); so we fly the plane in the manner needed to avoid the traffic and came back for an uneventful Visual Approach.

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.

An aircraft was issued traffic information and was instructed to follow the traffic for a visual approach. The aircraft sighted and followed a different aircraft than the controller intended them to follow.