Narrative:

We were cleared to intercept the localizer for 8R. The first officer said he was going to go to heading mode and then switch over to green needles for the intercept (but we were still many miles out) I stayed in white needles and intended on going green as soon as we were inbound as we were 20 mi out for the localizer intercept. When the first officer began to intercept; the autopilot took an excessively sharp turn; I realized something was not right. I had the first officer go back into heading mode; as I tried to figure out the sharp turn that the autopilot took. As I was trying to figure out why the autopilot was acting abnormal; the first officer mentioned that maybe his inbound course was not correct. I quickly realized what the problem was (he must have flipped to green needles outside of the 30 mi 'blue needle' point) at that point; I helped him with the heading; and set his inbound course for him to get us back on course. As I was trying to help him with this; we ended up slightly off course from the localizer; ATC questioned us as I was trying my best to correct it. We said correcting for the localizer. I asked ATC if we caused a problem; and the response was; no you're fine. The first officer must have selected green needles prior to the '30 mi' or blue needle point. As a result; his inbound course was not correct; and when trying to intercept the localizer this caused the autopilot to take a sharp turn. Make a quick look at first officer's screen before intercepting the localizer. If something like this were to happen again; it will be my first instinct to look at the first officer's screen and double check our screens are in agreement. Also; probably should have just taken the controls at that point and got the first officer lined up and given the controls back. This would have avoided us being off course.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: CRJ-700 Captain reported a track deviation on approach when the flying pilot First Officer selected green needles too soon.

Narrative: We were cleared to intercept the localizer for 8R. The first officer said he was going to go to heading mode and then switch over to green needles for the intercept (but we were still many miles out) I stayed in white needles and intended on going green as soon as we were inbound as we were 20 mi out for the localizer intercept. When the first officer began to intercept; the autopilot took an excessively sharp turn; I realized something was not right. I had the first officer go back into heading mode; as I tried to figure out the sharp turn that the autopilot took. As I was trying to figure out why the autopilot was acting abnormal; the FO mentioned that maybe his inbound course was not correct. I quickly realized what the problem was (he must have flipped to green needles outside of the 30 mi 'blue needle' point) at that point; I helped him with the heading; and set his inbound course for him to get us back on course. As I was trying to help him with this; we ended up slightly off course from the localizer; ATC questioned us as I was trying my best to correct it. We said correcting for the localizer. I asked ATC if we caused a problem; and the response was; no you're fine. The first officer must have selected green needles prior to the '30 mi' or blue needle point. As a result; his inbound course was not correct; and when trying to intercept the localizer this caused the autopilot to take a sharp turn. Make a quick look at first officer's screen before intercepting the localizer. If something like this were to happen again; it will be my first instinct to look at the first officer's screen and double check our screens are in agreement. Also; probably should have just taken the controls at that point and got the first officer lined up and given the controls back. This would have avoided us being off course.

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.