While operating in the traffic pattern with a flight instructor; a student pilot did not comprehend ...

Attributes
ACN	1159823
Time
Date	201403
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	TTN.Airport
State Reference	NJ
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	VFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Commercial
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 150 Flight Crew Total 900 Flight Crew Type 500
Events
Anomaly	Conflict Airborne Conflict Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Track / Heading All Types
Miss Distance	Horizontal 1000 Vertical 1000

Narrative:

The tower requested our aircraft to extend the left downwind leg; and we would be #3 [for landing]. The new student I was instructing did not quite understand what this meant so I began to explain it to him in the aircraft. We were looking for the #2 traffic; to being following him towards the field. The student accidentally identified the #1 aircraft for the field as the #2; and we began a left base leg after reporting this to the tower; who cleared us for the turn. We inadvertently flew in front of the #2 traffic; who did have us in sight. The tower then asked us to 'verify the type of aircraft we were following'; at which point I noticed the type aircraft that we were supposed to follow on a long final. I took over the controls from the student; announced that we were flying 'base heading' and advanced the throttle to full to get as clear of the [other aircraft's] final approach course as possible. The tower asked for a right 270 degree turn to rejoin final and we landed without incident. I was asked to contact the tower upon switching to ground frequency; and the controller and I had a conversation about what happened.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: While operating in the traffic pattern with a flight instructor; a student pilot did not comprehend the landing pattern flow and turned in front of an aircraft on a straight in approach. Following prompting by the Tower Controller; the instructor recognized the conflict; took over the controls; and extended the base leg. The Tower provided a clearance for a circle back to final approach for landing.

Narrative: The Tower requested our aircraft to extend the left downwind leg; and we would be #3 [for landing]. The new student I was instructing did not quite understand what this meant so I began to explain it to him in the aircraft. We were looking for the #2 traffic; to being following him towards the field. The student accidentally identified the #1 aircraft for the field as the #2; and we began a left base leg after reporting this to the Tower; who cleared us for the turn. We inadvertently flew in front of the #2 traffic; who did have us in sight. The Tower then asked us to 'verify the type of aircraft we were following'; at which point I noticed the type aircraft that we were supposed to follow on a long final. I took over the controls from the student; announced that we were flying 'base heading' and advanced the throttle to full to get as clear of the [other aircraft's] final approach course as possible. The Tower asked for a right 270 degree turn to rejoin final and we landed without incident. I was asked to contact the Tower upon switching to Ground frequency; and the Controller and I had a conversation about what happened.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.