Hs-125 captain reported becoming disoriented and lining up for the wrong runway at stl.

Narrative:

We were cleared to intercept the final approach localizer to runway 30L into stl. We were about 6 miles from the runway set; cleared for the visual; when tower cancelled our landing clearance; to give way to a formation flight of F-18s. He let them come in first from a right downwind and right base to 30L in front of us. Tower asked if we would instead land on runway 29. Because it was so late in the approach; we told tower 'can't comply'. Tower then asked if we would make a 90 degree right turn; to start an s-turn; to give way to the F-18s. We did; then tower asked us to maintain visual with the F-18s; and cleared us to land behind them. We performed the s-turns; while trying to maintain visual separation with the fighters; but in doing so; we got disoriented; and ended up lining ourselves up with runway 30R instead. In addition; runway 30R; although it was closed; did not have an 'X' on it; which added to the confusion. Tower saw that we were on short final for runway 30R and told us to execute a go around; which we did. We then came back around; and had departure vector us to the ILS runway 30L. I believe that this could've been avoided; if we simply would've just said 'can't comply' with both of tower's requests. If this were to happen again; in the future; that would be my solution; in addition to checking our instruments; in order to make sure we're tracking the correct navaids.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: HS-125 Captain reported becoming disoriented and lining up for the wrong runway at STL.

Narrative: We were cleared to intercept the final approach localizer to Runway 30L into STL. We were about 6 miles from the runway set; cleared for the visual; when Tower cancelled our landing clearance; to give way to a formation flight of F-18s. He let them come in first from a right downwind and right base to 30L in front of us. Tower asked if we would instead land on Runway 29. Because it was so late in the approach; we told tower 'Can't comply'. Tower then asked if we would make a 90 degree right turn; to start an S-turn; to give way to the F-18s. We did; then tower asked us to maintain visual with the F-18s; and cleared us to land behind them. We performed the S-turns; while trying to maintain visual separation with the fighters; but in doing so; we got disoriented; and ended up lining ourselves up with Runway 30R instead. In addition; Runway 30R; although it was closed; did not have an 'X' on it; which added to the confusion. Tower saw that we were on short final for Runway 30R and told us to execute a go around; which we did. We then came back around; and had departure vector us to the ILS Runway 30L. I believe that this could've been avoided; if we simply would've just said 'Can't comply' with both of Tower's requests. If this were to happen again; in the future; that would be my solution; in addition to checking our instruments; in order to make sure we're tracking the correct NAVAIDs.

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.

Attributes
ACN	1293484
Time
Date	201509
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	STL.Airport
State Reference	MO
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	HS 125 Series
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 135
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 50 Flight Crew Total 4212 Flight Crew Type 1700
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Conflict Airborne Conflict Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types