Narrative:

I took two friends on a flight. When we departed I noticed low fog over the ocean. On the way back to sna the fog had moved inland. About 7 miles out; approach control asked if I had the airport in sight and I told them I did not. I received vectors for a right base to runway 20R. I told them I could see the lead-in lights so I could probably make it in for landing. On final; at about 500 feet AGL; I realized the clouds were too low to continue VFR; so I did a go-around. I called approach and got an IFR clearance for the ILS into sna. When I was established on the ILS; the tower reported 2400 RVR and 300 feet ceiling. Minimums for the approach are 250 feet and 1/2 mile visibility; so it was very close. I was instrument-current; and I had recently passed an IFR simulator test for a pilot job interview; so I was feeling confident about my skills. I received a clearance to land on 20R. At 400 feet AGL; still above the clouds; I realized I had forgotten to reset my altimeter. I grabbed a knob and twisted; but it was the obs; the wrong knob. I finally got my altimeter set; and at that point I was at 300 feet AGL in the middle of the cloud layer. I noticed I was below the glideslope so I started to level off. At 250 feet I was still below the glideslope so I flew level for a few seconds to see if the runway would appear. At that moment the runway came into view and I could see all the way to the end; so I determined the flight visibility was adequate to land. I turned towards the runway and landed. On my rollout; the tower told me to 'cross 20R and contact ground' which is when I realized I had landed on 20L; the incorrect runway.one contributing factor was that my friend had an event she needed to get to; and we were already running late; so I really wanted to get in that night; even though there were plenty of VFR airports nearby. I had a hazardous 'invulnerability' attitude; which kept me from using due caution in the situation. In the future I will set personal minimums that are higher than the legal ones; and stick to them.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: C172 pilot reported landing on the wrong runway in SNA during foggy conditions.

Narrative: I took two friends on a flight. When we departed I noticed low fog over the ocean. On the way back to SNA the fog had moved inland. About 7 miles out; approach control asked if I had the airport in sight and I told them I did not. I received vectors for a right base to runway 20R. I told them I could see the lead-in lights so I could probably make it in for landing. On final; at about 500 feet AGL; I realized the clouds were too low to continue VFR; so I did a go-around. I called approach and got an IFR clearance for the ILS into SNA. When I was established on the ILS; the tower reported 2400 RVR and 300 feet ceiling. Minimums for the approach are 250 feet and 1/2 mile visibility; so it was very close. I was instrument-current; and I had recently passed an IFR simulator test for a pilot job interview; so I was feeling confident about my skills. I received a clearance to land on 20R. At 400 feet AGL; still above the clouds; I realized I had forgotten to reset my altimeter. I grabbed a knob and twisted; but it was the OBS; the wrong knob. I finally got my altimeter set; and at that point I was at 300 feet AGL in the middle of the cloud layer. I noticed I was below the glideslope so I started to level off. At 250 feet I was still below the glideslope so I flew level for a few seconds to see if the runway would appear. At that moment the runway came into view and I could see all the way to the end; so I determined the flight visibility was adequate to land. I turned towards the runway and landed. On my rollout; the tower told me to 'cross 20R and contact ground' which is when I realized I had landed on 20L; the incorrect runway.One contributing factor was that my friend had an event she needed to get to; and we were already running late; so I really wanted to get in that night; even though there were plenty of VFR airports nearby. I had a hazardous 'invulnerability' attitude; which kept me from using due caution in the situation. In the future I will set personal minimums that are higher than the legal ones; and stick to them.

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.