B757 flight crew approaching lax from the northwest after all night flight assumed runway 24R for la...

Narrative:

Flew night trip to lax. (Fatigue definitely a factor). All uneventful until being vectored for arrival at lax. I anticipated an ILS approach to runway 24R after smo and had the approach briefed and tuned in. Weather was 300 ft overcast and foggy at lax. Approach control never did tell us which runway to expect so there was some confusion on base leg as to which runway we were assigned. The autopilot had already captured the localizer to runway 24R by the time ATC directed us to turn left and capture the ILS to runway 25L. Anyway; we were getting too close to the airport to reprogram the fmcs and re-tune localizer frequencies in the fog; so we went around. Lesson learned: get ATC (approach control) to commit to (assign) a runway early so the tuning; briefing; programming or fmcs can be accomplished in a timely manner. I won't let this happen again!

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B757 flight crew approaching LAX from the northwest after all night flight assumed Runway 24R for landing and doesn't hear otherwise until cleared for the approach 25L. Low ceilings prevented a last minute change and a go-around ensues.

Narrative: Flew night trip to LAX. (Fatigue definitely a factor). All uneventful until being vectored for arrival at LAX. I anticipated an ILS approach to Runway 24R after SMO and had the approach briefed and tuned in. Weather was 300 FT overcast and foggy at LAX. Approach Control never did tell us which runway to expect so there was some confusion on base leg as to which runway we were assigned. The autopilot had already captured the localizer to Runway 24R by the time ATC directed us to turn left and capture the ILS to Runway 25L. Anyway; we were getting too close to the airport to reprogram the FMCs and re-tune localizer frequencies in the fog; so we went around. Lesson learned: Get ATC (Approach Control) to commit to (assign) a runway early so the tuning; briefing; programming or FMCs can be accomplished in a timely manner. I won't let this happen again!

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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	841721
Time
Date	200906
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	LAX.Airport
State Reference	CA
Environment
Light	Dawn
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B757-200
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Person 2
Function	Pilot Not Flying First Officer
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types

B757 flight crew approaching lax from the northwest after all night flight assumed runway 24R for landing and doesn't hear otherwise until cleared for the approach 25L. Low ceilings prevented a last minute change and a go-around ensues.