Tbm-850 pilot experienced confusion during a visual approach due to a similar sounding call sign and...

Narrative:

We were told by approach to expect 31L at dal for traffic. I told approach that I had the field in sight. Approach turned us over to tower. We were at 2;500 MSL on the southwest side of dal. I told tower; tower; [call sign] for 31L. Tower responded with; 'roger cleared to land 31L following traffic on three mile final.' it's also important to note that there was another aircraft approaching the airport with a very similar call sign. We set up on base and then final; fully configured to land. When I turned base I saw our traffic to follow; then lost him later as I turned final. As we approached 31L on very short final the tower said '[call sign] cancel landing clearance.' I immediately started to execute a go-around; added takeoff power and put the gear up. Because I was unsure if that was for us or the other call sign I immediately queried tower and asked if that was for us. The tower controller seemed confused and said negative. I then asked if we were cleared to land 31L. I was beginning to pull power back to land at this point. There was some more communication traffic but I did not hear a clear answer. I then heard the landing gear warning horn and saw I did not have the gear down lights. At this point I executed a full go around and notified tower we were going around; I may have a gear problem. The tower then gave me a climb heading and altitude and we went around and landed safely on 31R. I mentioned the gear on the initial go around call; because for a split second it might have been an indication problem. When tower queried me later about the gear I told them the gear was ok. I realized in the go around that I had put the gear up on the initial call from tower. We were fortunate that we did not land gear up. I am still unsure as to whether tower wanted us to land or not when the original cancel landing clearance call was made. I have learned a lot from this situation. The main one being if you are unsure and you start a go around procedure; to complete that procedure and go around fully. Do not try to salvage the landing. If there is a similar call sign we must be extra vigilant on our communications procedures. That goes for ATC too.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: TBM-850 pilot experienced confusion during a visual approach due to a similar sounding call sign and executed a go-around after nearly landing gear up.

Narrative: We were told by approach to expect 31L at DAL for traffic. I told approach that I had the field in sight. Approach turned us over to tower. We were at 2;500 MSL on the southwest side of DAL. I told tower; tower; [call sign] for 31L. Tower responded with; 'Roger cleared to land 31L following traffic on three mile final.' It's also important to note that there was another aircraft approaching the airport with a very similar call sign. We set up on base and then final; fully configured to land. When I turned base I saw our traffic to follow; then lost him later as I turned final. As we approached 31L on very short final the tower said '[call sign] cancel landing clearance.' I immediately started to execute a go-around; added takeoff power and put the gear up. Because I was unsure if that was for us or the other call sign I immediately queried tower and asked if that was for us. The tower controller seemed confused and said negative. I then asked if we were cleared to land 31L. I was beginning to pull power back to land at this point. There was some more communication traffic but I did not hear a clear answer. I then heard the landing gear warning horn and saw I did not have the gear down lights. At this point I executed a full go around and notified tower we were going around; I may have a gear problem. The tower then gave me a climb heading and altitude and we went around and landed safely on 31R. I mentioned the gear on the initial go around call; because for a split second it might have been an indication problem. When tower queried me later about the gear I told them the gear was ok. I realized in the go around that I had put the gear up on the initial call from Tower. We were fortunate that we did not land gear up. I am still unsure as to whether tower wanted us to land or not when the original cancel landing clearance call was made. I have learned a lot from this situation. The main one being if you are unsure and you start a go around procedure; to complete that procedure and go around fully. Do not try to salvage the landing. If there is a similar call sign we must be extra vigilant on our communications procedures. That goes for ATC too.

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.

Attributes
ACN	1428050
Time
Date	201702
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	DAL.Airport
State Reference	TX
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	TBM 700/TBM 850
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Route In Use	Direct Visual Approach
Flight Plan	VFR
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 124 Flight Crew Total 1796 Flight Crew Type 12
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter Unstabilized Approach

Tbm-850 pilot experienced confusion during a visual approach due to a similar sounding call sign and executed a go-around after nearly landing gear up.