Narrative:

I was the pilot flying. We were expecting to execute the back course localizer to the runway. During our descent while being vectored to final; we broke out of the clouds. I adjusted the navigation frequency to the ZZZ VOR momentarily to have situational awareness and to find the direct bearing to the airport to help facilitate a visual approach. Along this route; I found what I thought at the time to be the ZZZ airport. I backed this up with the correct runway direction; terminal building located just east of the approach end to the runway; and correct distance away which was approximately 10 miles. We requested a visual and began to fly a left dogleg to final after ATC cleared us for the approach. As we started to become aligned with the runway; I glanced down and noticed the localizer needle moving for further assurance of the correct airport. We were instructed to contact tower and accepted a landing clearance shortly thereafter. As we descended through approximately 1;000 ft AGL; me and my first officer started questioning whether we were at the correct field. At approximately 800-900 ft AGL; we began to see the runway markings and verified the runway of intended landing as being runway yy. At this point we began to climb and were contacted by ZZZ1 tower shortly thereafter. We were instructed to contact center; who began vectoring us back around for the back course localizer xx at ZZZ. We landed approximately 10 minutes later with no further issues.the event occurred due to our failure to identify the ZZZ airport. Some contributing factors are as follows. There was significant haze which caused us not to see the airport; as detailed as we would have liked. When we were using the bearing pointer for situational awareness; we happened to use it at a point that the bearing direct to ZZZ would have brought us directly over the ZZZ1 airport. Similar building structures in reference to the runway. Both runways were aligned in the same direction. The localizer needle just happened to fluctuate as we were aligning with runway yy at ZZZ1. The short approach (probably due to the illusion of us being further away then we really were) gave us little time to question much as we were busy performing checklist items. The dogleg pattern created a situation of us not needing to rely on the localizer as a means of navigation. There are many things we could have done differently to avoid this occurrence. Not being complacent is one. Being more vigilant and taking more time to confirm the airport prior to accepting a visual approach. [We also could have been] using DME as well as localizer alignment as a means of runway verification [or] continuing the instrument approach.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: SF340 Captain requests a visual approach to the destination airport but lines up with and descends toward the wrong airport before realizing his mistake.

Narrative: I was the pilot flying. We were expecting to execute the back course LOC to the runway. During our descent while being vectored to final; we broke out of the clouds. I adjusted the NAV frequency to the ZZZ VOR momentarily to have situational awareness and to find the direct bearing to the airport to help facilitate a visual approach. Along this route; I found what I thought at the time to be the ZZZ airport. I backed this up with the correct runway direction; terminal building located just east of the approach end to the runway; and correct distance away which was approximately 10 miles. We requested a visual and began to fly a left dogleg to final after ATC cleared us for the approach. As we started to become aligned with the runway; I glanced down and noticed the localizer needle moving for further assurance of the correct airport. We were instructed to contact Tower and accepted a landing clearance shortly thereafter. As we descended through approximately 1;000 FT AGL; me and my First Officer started questioning whether we were at the correct field. At approximately 800-900 FT AGL; we began to see the runway markings and verified the runway of intended landing as being Runway YY. At this point we began to climb and were contacted by ZZZ1 Tower shortly thereafter. We were instructed to contact Center; who began vectoring us back around for the back course LOC XX at ZZZ. We landed approximately 10 minutes later with no further issues.The event occurred due to our failure to identify the ZZZ airport. Some contributing factors are as follows. There was significant haze which caused us not to see the airport; as detailed as we would have liked. When we were using the bearing pointer for situational awareness; we happened to use it at a point that the bearing direct to ZZZ would have brought us directly over the ZZZ1 airport. Similar building structures in reference to the runway. Both runways were aligned in the same direction. The localizer needle just happened to fluctuate as we were aligning with Runway YY at ZZZ1. The short approach (probably due to the illusion of us being further away then we really were) gave us little time to question much as we were busy performing checklist items. The dogleg pattern created a situation of us not needing to rely on the localizer as a means of navigation. There are many things we could have done differently to avoid this occurrence. Not being complacent is one. Being more vigilant and taking more time to confirm the airport prior to accepting a visual approach. [We also could have been] using DME as well as localizer alignment as a means of runway verification [or] continuing the instrument approach.

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.