Narrative:

While on radar vectors to approach [runway] 21L; we were first cleared to fly heading 270 descend to 4000 ft and asked by ATC if the field was in sight. We complied and advised ATC that the field was not in sight. Shortly after; we were assigned heading 240 then asked if the field was in sight. We replied again that the field was not in sight. We were then given a descent to 3000 ft. We were so focused on getting the airport in sight since the controller kept asking us that we were looking outside too much. It was a broken layer of clouds and we thought we would see it easily. As the pilot flying I was also thinking about getting down and slowing down by the outer marker since we were being left a little high by the controller who apparently was hoping to clear us for a visual approach sooner. At one point I spotted part of the runway but was waiting to see the rest before we told ATC. So I became somewhat fixed on that point. I then looked down at the instruments and realized the localizer course was alive and almost centered. As I was turning the plane to join it; we received a traffic alert. Followed shortly by an inquiry from ATC if we were joining the course. I turned off the autopilot and made a steeper bank toward the final course. I noted the other aircraft on final for 22L was slightly behind and 400 ft below. Once the conflict was clear ATC handed us off to the tower. Since that happened outside the outer marker we felt it was safe to continue the approach to landing.I do not remember hearing that we were cleared to join the final approach course. Normally upon hearing that I would have armed the localizer. I believe the controller gave us the 240 heading and forgot to tell us to join since he asked if we had the field in sight. However; I also realize it's my responsibility to verify that with the controller and in this situation with parallel approaches it is safer to just join the final if the frequency is too busy to ask. Normally I would have not let myself get so distracted with seeing the field. Perhaps a combination of what I've mentioned about and the 3:30am wake up calls for a few days played a part in it.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: CRJ900 Flight Crew approaching Runway 21L at DTW and the Captain of another CRJ900 approaching Runway 22L at DTW experienced a TCAS event. The Controller never cleared the crew approaching Runway 21L for the ILS hoping they would get the runway in sight for the visual which they never did and flew through the localizer conflicting with 22L traffic.

Narrative: While on radar vectors to approach [Runway] 21L; we were first cleared to fly heading 270 descend to 4000 ft and asked by ATC if the field was in sight. We complied and advised ATC that the field was not in sight. Shortly after; we were assigned heading 240 then asked if the field was in sight. We replied again that the field was not in sight. We were then given a descent to 3000 ft. We were so focused on getting the airport in sight since the controller kept asking us that we were looking outside too much. It was a broken layer of clouds and we thought we would see it easily. As the pilot flying I was also thinking about getting down and slowing down by the outer marker since we were being left a little high by the controller who apparently was hoping to clear us for a visual approach sooner. At one point I spotted part of the runway but was waiting to see the rest before we told ATC. So I became somewhat fixed on that point. I then looked down at the instruments and realized the localizer course was alive and almost centered. As I was turning the plane to join it; we received a traffic alert. Followed shortly by an inquiry from ATC if we were joining the course. I turned off the autopilot and made a steeper bank toward the final course. I noted the other aircraft on final for 22L was slightly behind and 400 ft below. Once the conflict was clear ATC handed us off to the tower. Since that happened outside the outer marker we felt it was safe to continue the approach to landing.I do not remember hearing that we were cleared to join the final approach course. Normally upon hearing that I would have armed the localizer. I believe the controller gave us the 240 heading and forgot to tell us to join since he asked if we had the field in sight. However; I also realize it's my responsibility to verify that with the controller and in this situation with parallel approaches it is safer to just join the final if the frequency is too busy to ask. Normally I would have not let myself get so distracted with seeing the field. Perhaps a combination of what I've mentioned about and the 3:30am wake up calls for a few days played a part in it.

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.