A captain cleared for a night visual to bwi runway 33L erroneously visually locked on the runway 33R...

Attributes
ACN	1259778
Time
Date	201505
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	BWI.Airport
State Reference	MD
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Medium Large Transport Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	First Officer
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Track / Heading All Types Inflight Event / Encounter Unstabilized Approach

Narrative:

On arrival into bwi. Was cleared for the visual to 33L and to follow a B737. I turned right to intercept the final course on the localizer. Set altitude 1;500 and aimed to join at FAF. I descended to the FAF and lost [the traffic] however my first officer maintained [traffic] in sight. I searched for the runway visually and being unfamiliar with bwi I thought I had the runway in sight. I began to trust my visual and cut in tighter than required and continued descent. I began to realize I was looking at 33R. Upon recognizing my misplaced position of the runway I turned back to the localizer to gain course. I approached below the glide slope and got a 'glide slope' aural once. I finally acquired the runway and began to correct visually. I briefly noticed a 'ground proximity' icon that went away. There was no aural warning. I was fixated outside. Continued and landed. I should have never gone fully visual. I knew I was unfamiliar and should have shot the ILS. A go around was probably the best option.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Captain cleared for a night visual to BWI Runway 33L erroneously visually locked on the Runway 33R lights and prematurely descended causing the 'GLIDESLOPE' aural alert and a brief PFD GROUND PROXIMITY alert. The First Officer correctly pointed out 33L.

Narrative: On arrival into BWI. Was cleared for the visual to 33L and to follow a B737. I turned right to intercept the final course on the localizer. Set altitude 1;500 and aimed to join at FAF. I descended to the FAF and lost [the traffic] however my first officer maintained [traffic] in sight. I searched for the runway visually and being unfamiliar with BWI I thought I had the runway in sight. I began to trust my visual and cut in tighter than required and continued descent. I began to realize I was looking at 33R. Upon recognizing my misplaced position of the runway I turned back to the localizer to gain course. I approached below the glide slope and got a 'glide slope' aural once. I finally acquired the runway and began to correct visually. I briefly noticed a 'ground proximity' icon that went away. There was no aural warning. I was fixated outside. Continued and landed. I should have never gone fully visual. I knew I was unfamiliar and should have shot the ILS. A go around was probably the best option.

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.

A captain cleared for a night visual to bwi runway 33L erroneously visually locked on the runway 33R lights and prematurely descended causing the 'glideslope' aural alert and a brief pfd ground proximity alert. The first officer correctly pointed out 33L.