B737 flight crew reported confusing ilm for phl during a night arrival. When cleared for the visual;...

Attributes
ACN	1433368
Time
Date	201703
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	PHL.Airport
State Reference	PA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 145
Person 2
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 133
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types

Narrative:

We thought we were flying downwind for runway 27R in phl. We really had wilmington delaware in site and thought that was phl. As we flew further and further from the airport that we thought we were going to land; we questioned the controller and he said 'when you get the airport in site; I'll clear you'. We called the airport and started turning towards it (ilm). Tower questioned us due to our location to phl then handed us back to ATC to vector us back to the correct airport. Approach control never gave us any indication where the airport was (airport xx miles xx o'clock). We were in an older model aircraft which didn't help our situational awareness.I should have told the controller that we couldn't see the airport at that point because it was behind us. That would have clued him in on the fact that we were looking at the wrong airport.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 flight crew reported confusing ILM for PHL during a night arrival. When cleared for the visual; the crew turned toward ILM and ATC issued new vectors for Runway 27R at PHL.

Narrative: We thought we were flying downwind for Runway 27R in PHL. We really had Wilmington Delaware in site and thought that was PHL. As we flew further and further from the airport that we thought we were going to land; we questioned the Controller and he said 'when you get the airport in site; I'll clear you'. We called the airport and started turning towards it (ILM). Tower questioned us due to our location to PHL then handed us back to ATC to vector us back to the correct airport. Approach Control never gave us any indication where the airport was (airport XX miles XX o'clock). We were in an older model aircraft which didn't help our situational awareness.I should have told the Controller that we couldn't see the airport at that point because it was behind us. That would have clued him in on the fact that we were looking at the wrong airport.

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.

B737 flight crew reported confusing ilm for phl during a night arrival. When cleared for the visual; the crew turned toward ilm and ATC issued new vectors for runway 27R at phl.