Narrative:

As captain and pilot flying; I briefed the active ILS runway 10 before descent on the ravnn 3 arrival and we descended to 6;000 ft at ravnn. While on descent we had a map shift on the map depiction but it seemed normal. We continued to navey and descended to 4;000 ft. Approach offered vectors to a visual to runway 33L at about 11 o'clock; 13 miles; and asked if we saw the runway. The first officer; pilot not flying; saw it and I did not; but asked him to call it since he could see it. I punched in the ILS 33L approach on FMS and turned about 10 degrees left to go direct to the FAF grafe and initiated a rapid descent down to 1;500 ft; the FAF altitude; with gear and flaps. I had an intercept of about 5 degrees to final. First officer was tuning ILS 33L and trying to ident it. Evidently they had just opened the runway and had not turned on the ILS yet. A couple of miles to grafe we inquired about the ILS being up and I could not see runway 33L. Baltimore approach gave a go around and we turned to 060 degrees and climbed to 3;000 ft and took vectors to ILS 10 for a normal landing although my map showed we were 0.2 tenths right of the ILS 10 and had a second map shift on base approach. I landed on runway 10 and exited as directed on runway 4 and then turned left to intercept P and then realized we had been directed to taxi down runway 4 to turn left on C and pick up P there. We stopped and told them where we were and they approved continued taxi down P. Trying to save some flight time I opted for the straight-in to runway 33L over vector for runway 10 which was 90 degrees to our flight path. This compressed our set up time and opportunity to thoroughly monitor the approach. I should have had a visual on the runway before accepting visual instead of accepting first officer's sighting of the runway. Evidently runway 33L had just opened up and they had not turned on the ILS for that runway so we did not have backup of glide path or final approach course to the FMS map. The approach lights were down low and I should have asked to turn them up. The map shift placed the actual runway at our 1 o'clock and offset about 3 tenths of a mile combined with our 5 degree angle to final at FAF made it difficult to locate the airport from the FAF. The first officer saw runway 33L but was engaged in tuning and trying to ident the turned off ILS. We were descending from 4;000 ft to 1;500 ft; extending the gear and flaps; setting up navigation systems; and just too many things at one time. The biggest mistake was not continuing on the approach we had briefed and set up previously. Regarding the taxing with turn off runway 4 onto P too soon; I was anxious to vacate the runway 4 we had turned down and was used to going down P from previous recent flights. Suggestions: fly the approach you plan and brief. Be sure both pilots confirm sighting the runway. Don't fly approaches at night without backup course guidance. Don't rush the approach. Be aware of map shift and get position confirmed.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: After accepting vectors for a visual approach to Runway 33L at BWI based upon the First Officer reporting the runway in sight; air carrier Captain did not acquire the runway and Approach Control issued a go-around. Flight crew executed an uneventful approach to Runway 10; but had a taxiway incursion after landing.

Narrative: As Captain and pilot flying; I briefed the active ILS Runway 10 before descent on the RAVNN 3 arrival and we descended to 6;000 FT at RAVNN. While on descent we had a map shift on the map depiction but it seemed normal. We continued to NAVEY and descended to 4;000 FT. Approach offered vectors to a visual to Runway 33L at about 11 o'clock; 13 miles; and asked if we saw the runway. The First Officer; pilot not flying; saw it and I did not; but asked him to call it since he could see it. I punched in the ILS 33L approach on FMS and turned about 10 degrees left to go direct to the FAF GRAFE and initiated a rapid descent down to 1;500 FT; the FAF altitude; with gear and flaps. I had an intercept of about 5 degrees to final. First Officer was tuning ILS 33L and trying to ident it. Evidently they had just opened the runway and had not turned on the ILS yet. A couple of miles to GRAFE we inquired about the ILS being up and I could not see Runway 33L. Baltimore Approach gave a Go Around and we turned to 060 degrees and climbed to 3;000 FT and took vectors to ILS 10 for a normal landing although my map showed we were 0.2 tenths right of the ILS 10 and had a second map shift on base approach. I landed on Runway 10 and exited as directed on Runway 4 and then turned left to intercept P and then realized we had been directed to taxi down Runway 4 to turn left on C and pick up P there. We stopped and told them where we were and they approved continued taxi down P. Trying to save some flight time I opted for the straight-in to Runway 33L over vector for Runway 10 which was 90 degrees to our flight path. This compressed our set up time and opportunity to thoroughly monitor the approach. I should have had a visual on the runway before accepting visual instead of accepting First Officer's sighting of the runway. Evidently Runway 33L had just opened up and they had not turned on the ILS for that runway so we did not have backup of Glide Path or Final Approach Course to the FMS map. The approach lights were down low and I should have asked to turn them up. The map shift placed the actual runway at our 1 o'clock and offset about 3 tenths of a mile combined with our 5 degree angle to final at FAF made it difficult to locate the airport from the FAF. The First Officer saw Runway 33L but was engaged in tuning and trying to ident the turned off ILS. We were descending from 4;000 FT to 1;500 FT; extending the gear and flaps; setting up NAV systems; and just too many things at one time. The biggest mistake was not continuing on the approach we had briefed and set up previously. Regarding the taxing with turn off Runway 4 onto P too soon; I was anxious to vacate the Runway 4 we had turned down and was used to going down P from previous recent flights. Suggestions: Fly the approach you plan and brief. Be sure both pilots confirm sighting the runway. Don't fly approaches at night without backup course guidance. Don't rush the approach. Be aware of map shift and get position confirmed.

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.