Narrative:

A B737 was a divert. He had declared minimum fuel and was based approximately 18 miles northeast of the airport. I was having him follow a C310 that was on final approximately 10 miles ahead of him. Pilot stated he had his traffic he was following in sight. I pointed out traffic to him and told him to follow him and cleared him for a visual approach to 17L. The pilot turned the B737 in sharply and I reiterated the traffic and told him there was a 40 KT over take. Pilot said he was slowing. I became concerned when another air carrier was paralleling the final northeast of the C310. I questioned the pilot and he responded he thought he was following the heavy. The only heavy I had on final at that time was on very short final for 17R. I wanted to save the approach if possible because aircraft was at minimum fuel and I did not want to him to go around. I asked pilot if he could make an s-turn to the left. He did and when C310 landed there was five mile separation. I think pilot was hearing the numerous communications I was having with the heavy aircraft and this combined with his minimum fuel had given him a mindset that caused a possible miscommunication. When pilot said he had aircraft in sight ahead of him; I think he unconsciously was thinking the heavy and 17R. This preconceived idea on his part led him to disregard the C310 he had as traffic and focus on the heavy that was on short final. I think that in this situation I should have recognized that the pilot might be nervous and making assumptions and gone to more lengths to make sure he was on the same page as me.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Tower Controller described a minimum fuel event involving a Visual Approach with the aircraft seeing and following the wrong aircraft; the reporter listing miscommunication and cockpit workload as contributing factors.

Narrative: A B737 was a divert. He had declared minimum fuel and was based approximately 18 miles northeast of the airport. I was having him follow a C310 that was on final approximately 10 miles ahead of him. Pilot stated he had his traffic he was following in sight. I pointed out traffic to him and told him to follow him and cleared him for a Visual Approach to 17L. The pilot turned the B737 in sharply and I reiterated the traffic and told him there was a 40 KT over take. Pilot said he was slowing. I became concerned when another Air Carrier was paralleling the final northeast of the C310. I questioned the pilot and he responded he thought he was following the Heavy. The only Heavy I had on final at that time was on very short final for 17R. I wanted to save the approach if possible because aircraft was at minimum fuel and I did not want to him to go around. I asked pilot if he could make an S-turn to the left. He did and when C310 landed there was five mile separation. I think pilot was hearing the numerous communications I was having with the Heavy aircraft and this combined with his minimum fuel had given him a mindset that caused a possible miscommunication. When pilot said he had aircraft in sight ahead of him; I think he unconsciously was thinking the Heavy and 17R. This preconceived idea on his part led him to disregard the C310 he had as traffic and focus on the Heavy that was on short final. I think that in this situation I should have recognized that the pilot might be nervous and making assumptions and gone to more lengths to make sure he was on the same page as me.

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.