Narrative:

I; as a flying pilot; was assigned to this flight as a PIC; flying with a new hired pilot who hadn't been flying in us for awhile.our destination was lvk; and ATIS said clear and visual approach to 25R. We set for the ILS 25R for back up for visual and briefed. We were coming from south; but our new rerouting was going to eca VOR which is about 30 miles east of the airport. ATC told us to descend to 10;000 feet. Before getting to eca VOR; ATC gave us a heading 280 then descend 8;000 feet. Then we had traffic to look for; so ATC left us high.I was looking for the airport; but didn't find it yet. I asked pilot monitoring (pm) to help me look. ATC asked us if we can make it since we were high. Because we were empty no passengers; I said to pm that I can descend quickly. Pm answered ATC that yes; we can do; ATC said glideslope out of service and gave us to direct to footo cleared for localizer 25R approach. Quickly I used air brakes and started to descend abruptly without the autopilot. I missed the last ATC instruction and somehow I thought we were cleared for the visual. That's because I mis located the airport and was aiming the wrong strip which looked really close. I thought we had to descend quickly to make it. I asked pm if he has the airport. He said 'it's right next to the pond.' I said 'a pond?' and he said 'well; I'll just shut up' pm located the correct airport; but he didn't speak up that I was getting too low.ATC said we were getting low; then I realized I was looking at the wrong one. We were at 2;800 feet at that time. Pm answered 'airport insight; request visual' without acknowledged me that I have the airport insight. Soon after; I found the airport and stabilized the airplane; then landed safely. (The field elevation is 400 feet)when ATC asked us if we can make it since we were high; I thought I have to descend really quick without looking at the mfd map. Here's the first confusion and mistake.my eyes were all outside and when I found the wrong strip; my focus was just slow down and get down. I should have checked with mfd to locate myself. The second mistake.also I misunderstood the ATC instruction that cleared for the visual approach instead of localizer approach. I should have asked pm. The third mistake.after the flight; I debriefed with pm. I asked him if he saw something wrong; he should've spoke up. He admitted it. I was flying by myself without him helping. The fourth mistake.since pm was not so familiar with us procedures and radio communications; we got behind the airplane. I will try to make sure we both understand what's going on and keep our situational awareness high next time.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Corporate jet Captain reported descending too low on LOC 25R approach to LVK partially due to misidentifying airfield.

Narrative: I; as a flying pilot; was assigned to this flight as a PIC; flying with a new hired pilot who hadn't been flying in U.S. for awhile.Our destination was LVK; and ATIS said clear and visual approach to 25R. We set for the ILS 25R for back up for visual and briefed. We were coming from south; but our new rerouting was going to ECA VOR which is about 30 miles east of the airport. ATC told us to descend to 10;000 feet. Before getting to ECA VOR; ATC gave us a heading 280 then descend 8;000 feet. Then we had traffic to look for; so ATC left us high.I was looking for the airport; but didn't find it yet. I asked Pilot Monitoring (PM) to help me look. ATC asked us if we can make it since we were high. Because we were empty no passengers; I said to PM that I can descend quickly. PM answered ATC that yes; we can do; ATC said glideslope out of service and gave us to direct to FOOTO cleared for LOC 25R approach. Quickly I used air brakes and started to descend abruptly without the autopilot. I missed the last ATC instruction and somehow I thought we were cleared for the visual. That's because I mis located the airport and was aiming the wrong strip which looked really close. I thought we had to descend quickly to make it. I asked PM if he has the airport. He said 'it's right next to the pond.' I said 'a pond?' And he said 'well; I'll just shut up' PM located the correct airport; but he didn't speak up that I was getting too low.ATC said we were getting low; then I realized I was looking at the wrong one. We were at 2;800 feet at that time. PM answered 'airport insight; request visual' without acknowledged me that I have the airport insight. Soon after; I found the airport and stabilized the airplane; then landed safely. (The field elevation is 400 feet)When ATC asked us if we can make it since we were high; I thought I have to descend really quick without looking at the MFD map. Here's the first confusion and mistake.My eyes were all outside and when I found the wrong strip; my focus was just slow down and get down. I should have checked with MFD to locate myself. The second mistake.Also I misunderstood the ATC instruction that cleared for the visual approach instead of LOC approach. I should have asked PM. The third mistake.After the flight; I debriefed with PM. I asked him if he saw something wrong; he should've spoke up. He admitted it. I was flying by myself without him helping. The fourth mistake.Since PM was not so familiar with U.S. procedures and radio communications; we got behind the airplane. I will try to make sure we both understand what's going on and keep our situational awareness high next time.

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.