An ERJ170 pilot reported that another ERJ170 pilot mistakenly acknowledged and began flying a cleara...

Narrative:

While descending on a 010 heading to the west of the 35 localizer when we were told we were 5 miles from james and cleared for the converging ILS 35. Another ERJ170 aircraft was in front of us and had been previously cleared for the approach; however; they were approaching from the east while we came from the west of the localizer. They read back our approach clearance before we could respond. The controller then issued another aircraft an instruction. Both the captain and I realized the wrong aircraft had read back the clearance but either the other airplane or the controller realized their mistake. Before we could query the controller she saw that we would end up too close to the other aircraft (there was no immediate conflict) and moved us over to 30L before we could inquire of the misread instructions. Both controllers and pilots need to insure that they are reading back the correct clearance. The other aircraft also should have realized they already had a clearance and the heading did not make sense for an aircraft arriving from the east.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An ERJ170 pilot reported that another ERJ170 pilot mistakenly acknowledged and began flying a clearance to MSP Runway 30 which created a conflict quickly recognized by ATC who then issued the Reporter a new clearance.

Narrative: While descending on a 010 heading to the west of the 35 LOC when we were told we were 5 miles from James and cleared for the Converging ILS 35. Another ERJ170 aircraft was in front of us and had been previously cleared for the approach; however; they were approaching from the east while we came from the west of the localizer. They read back our approach clearance before we could respond. The Controller then issued another aircraft an instruction. Both the Captain and I realized the wrong aircraft had read back the clearance but either the other airplane or the Controller realized their mistake. Before we could query the Controller she saw that we would end up too close to the other aircraft (there was no immediate conflict) and moved us over to 30L before we could inquire of the misread instructions. Both Controllers and pilots need to insure that they are reading back the correct clearance. The other aircraft also should have realized they already had a clearance and the heading did not make sense for an aircraft arriving from the east.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 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	989330
Time
Date	201201
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	MSP.Airport
State Reference	MN
Environment
Flight Conditions	IMC
Light	Dawn
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	EMB ERJ 170/175 ER/LR
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Total 5200 Flight Crew Type 1200
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types

An ERJ170 pilot reported that another ERJ170 pilot mistakenly acknowledged and began flying a clearance to msp runway 30 which created a conflict quickly recognized by ATC who then issued the reporter a new clearance.