Narrative:

As a local east controller at bos in the landing runway 27 & 32/departing runway 33L configuration; it was my responsibility to handle all arrivals landing runway 32. Almost always as I was at this time; local east is combined with local control helicopter. Local control east is also responsible to write arrival strips for local control west and monitor local control west's frequency in addition to multiple of mine. This configuration is primarily an evening only configuration due to noise abatement rules. It was mentioned to me from my supervisor to keep an extra close eye on local control west as they were primarily a morning-only controller with very little experience in this configuration (something that had occurred to me prior as well). I was also keeping an eye on the ground control 2 controller who has many years of experience and is a very good controller; but was on overtime (as was 40% of the shift like myself was) and I had never in my 3 years at bos tower worked next to them in the evening. They didn't do anything wrong at all; it was just a level of unfamiliarity with some uncommon technique they were using that made me spend more time than usual making sure there was no conflict between ground control 2 and local control west.I hadn't been on position for too long and had only cleared a few aircraft to land on runway 32 prior to aircraft X requesting landing clearance. Aircraft X accepted a visual approach from bos approach and handed off to me. I cleared aircraft X to land on runway 32. At this time I went back to coordinating; writing; monitoring; and working local control helicopters with the multiple helicopters just to the west of the airport and in possible conflict with every single runway 33L departure. The last time I remember scanning to see if aircraft X was in a 'good spot' for runway 32 was when they were about 3 mile final. This can be very difficult and is the most confused arrival we have at bos. On radar; this is an area where they appear to be turning back towards runway 32 but could also be lined up for runway 33L. I was scanning the airport full of aircraft and making sure local control west's last arrival had vacated the runway when I heard them tell an aircraft to luaw (line up and wait) on runway 33L. Being a heavy aircraft; this caused me to start to plan for my local control helicopter traffic as there will be significant wake turbulence near them after this particular departure. As I was focused on planning for the local control helicopter traffic; the asde-X alert went off. At this time it alerted for aircraft X to go around. I complied and turned the aircraft to avoid the rotating traffic that had been cleared for takeoff just prior to the line up and wait aircraft. Aircraft X had made a visual approach to the wrong runway. I as the controller working them failed to recognize in time as I was distracted with many other items at a single time. There were many eyes on the operation and we all failed to see aircraft X lined up to the wrong runway. Aircraft X came back 5-10 min later and landed safely on runway 32. I was shown a stars entry technique after this event to help show the direction of the aircraft without having to wait for a radar sweep. I will be using this method in the future as it could have helped.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: BOS Local Controller sent an aircraft around that was lined up to land on the wrong runway.

Narrative: As a Local East Controller at BOS in the landing runway 27 & 32/departing runway 33L configuration; it was my responsibility to handle all arrivals landing runway 32. Almost always as I was at this time; Local East is combined with Local Control Helicopter. Local Control East is also responsible to write arrival strips for Local Control West and monitor Local Control West's frequency in addition to multiple of mine. This configuration is primarily an evening only configuration due to noise abatement rules. It was mentioned to me from my supervisor to keep an extra close eye on Local Control West as they were primarily a morning-only controller with very little experience in this configuration (something that had occurred to me prior as well). I was also keeping an eye on the Ground Control 2 Controller who has many years of experience and is a very good controller; but was on overtime (as was 40% of the shift like myself was) and I had never in my 3 years at BOS Tower worked next to them in the evening. They didn't do anything wrong at all; it was just a level of unfamiliarity with some uncommon technique they were using that made me spend more time than usual making sure there was no conflict between Ground Control 2 and Local Control West.I hadn't been on position for too long and had only cleared a few aircraft to land on runway 32 prior to Aircraft X requesting landing clearance. Aircraft X accepted a Visual Approach from BOS Approach and handed off to me. I cleared Aircraft X to land on runway 32. At this time I went back to coordinating; writing; monitoring; and working Local Control Helicopters with the multiple helicopters just to the west of the airport and in possible conflict with every single runway 33L departure. The last time I remember scanning to see if Aircraft X was in a 'good spot' for runway 32 was when they were about 3 mile final. This can be very difficult and is the most confused arrival we have at BOS. On radar; this is an area where they appear to be turning back towards runway 32 but could also be lined up for runway 33L. I was scanning the airport full of aircraft and making sure Local Control West's last arrival had vacated the runway when I heard them tell an aircraft to LUAW (Line Up and Wait) on runway 33L. Being a heavy aircraft; this caused me to start to plan for my Local Control Helicopter traffic as there will be significant wake turbulence near them after this particular departure. As I was focused on planning for the Local Control Helicopter traffic; the ASDE-X alert went off. At this time it alerted for Aircraft X to go around. I complied and turned the aircraft to avoid the rotating traffic that had been cleared for takeoff just prior to the Line Up and Wait aircraft. Aircraft X had made a Visual Approach to the wrong runway. I as the controller working them failed to recognize in time as I was distracted with many other items at a single time. There were many eyes on the operation and we all failed to see Aircraft X lined up to the wrong runway. Aircraft X came back 5-10 min later and landed safely on runway 32. I was shown a Stars entry technique after this event to help show the direction of the aircraft without having to wait for a radar sweep. I will be using this method in the future as it could have helped.

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.