Narrative:

I was flying the approach into dfw. ATC assigned us 17R which was a change from the expected runway; so we loaded the ILS to 17R in LNAV and changed to the 17R ILS frequencies. ATC called traffic to us at 11:00 clock (we were on an angling right base). Looked but couldn't see it. ATC asked if we could see the airport (we could) and issued a visual approach clearance. ATC instructed us to keep our speed up to the final approach fix. Autopilot was on and connected to LNAV. We kept looking to the left for the traffic and when I looked to the right I saw the left and right runway and disconnected the autopilot to turn final. As I turned final; we both noticed that we were right of the LNAV track. We checked the ILS raw data and it also showed us right of course. We checked for proper LNAV points; ILS frequencies and identifiers which were all correct. Next we asked the tower to verify the ILS was operating and were told it checked ok. Tower also verified the ILS frequency and assigned runway.now we are about 3 miles from landing and my eyes were telling me to land on the right runway while my instruments are telling me to land on the left. This doesn't make sense and I do a go-around to give us time to discover the problem. As we go around; I look out the left window and see the passenger terminal. This is not where it should be and after cleaning up and doing checklists; I look at the airport diagram again and it dawns on me that I have lined up on the 18R/left side of the airport which explains the conflicting information. On downwind; we reload the LNAV and re-verify everything. On approach; we carefully follow the instruments to final and make an uneventful landing in 17R.this event occurred primarily because I followed my visual input first and didn't rely on my navigation aids enough. Other factors included: the airport is brightly lit on both sides of the 18 complex which made me think the terminal was to my right. It is fairly dark to the east of the 17s. The runway lights are difficult to see until almost lined up on final. This was obvious on our second approach as we crossed the 18 centerlines but still couldn't see the 17s. The traffic call and the requirement to keep our speed up added distraction. End of the day fatigue and VMC weather lead to less vigilance.as years of training have taught me; always use the instruments to verify where the aircraft is. While this saved me from landing on the wrong runway; I could have used it much more effectively (and sooner) to avoid lining up on the wrong runway. At airports where there are runways separated by large areas; I will review how many runways will be crossed prior to turning final. This is especially important on VMC arrivals with visual approaches.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Following a late runway change at DFW the flight crew of a B737-700 lined up visually with the wrong runway. The discrepancy between their visual picture and the ILS/NAV displays alerted them to make a go around and reorient themselves.

Narrative: I was flying the approach into DFW. ATC assigned us 17R which was a change from the expected runway; so we loaded the ILS to 17R in LNAV and changed to the 17R ILS frequencies. ATC called traffic to us at 11:00 clock (we were on an angling right base). Looked but couldn't see it. ATC asked if we could see the airport (we could) and issued a visual approach clearance. ATC instructed us to keep our speed up to the final approach fix. Autopilot was on and connected to LNAV. We kept looking to the left for the traffic and when I looked to the right I saw the left and right runway and disconnected the autopilot to turn final. As I turned final; we both noticed that we were right of the LNAV track. We checked the ILS raw data and it also showed us right of course. We checked for proper LNAV points; ILS frequencies and identifiers which were all correct. Next we asked the Tower to verify the ILS was operating and were told it checked OK. Tower also verified the ILS frequency and assigned runway.Now we are about 3 miles from landing and my eyes were telling me to land on the right runway while my instruments are telling me to land on the left. This doesn't make sense and I do a go-around to give us time to discover the problem. As we go around; I look out the left window and see the passenger terminal. This is not where it should be and after cleaning up and doing checklists; I look at the airport diagram again and it dawns on me that I have lined up on the 18R/L side of the airport which explains the conflicting information. On downwind; we reload the LNAV and re-verify everything. On approach; we carefully follow the instruments to final and make an uneventful landing in 17R.This event occurred primarily because I followed my visual input first and didn't rely on my navigation aids enough. Other factors included: The airport is brightly lit on both sides of the 18 complex which made me think the terminal was to my right. It is fairly dark to the east of the 17s. The runway lights are difficult to see until almost lined up on final. This was obvious on our second approach as we crossed the 18 centerlines but still couldn't see the 17s. The traffic call and the requirement to keep our speed up added distraction. End of the day fatigue and VMC weather lead to less vigilance.As years of training have taught me; always use the instruments to verify where the aircraft is. While this saved me from landing on the wrong runway; I could have used it much more effectively (and sooner) to avoid lining up on the wrong runway. At airports where there are runways separated by large areas; I will review how many runways will be crossed prior to turning final. This is especially important on VMC arrivals with visual approaches.

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.