Narrative:

I was on my 5th landing in the pattern of my first solo. On the upwind; ATC told me that I was #3 to land and to follow traffic entering the downwind; which I had in sight. I extended my upwind to follow the traffic. When I was about midfield of the downwind; I saw a plane below me land which I thought was the plane I was told to follow because I no longer saw a plane in front of me. I turned to final and was told to go around because an airplane was below me. I went around; making left traffic; saw the other plane break off; and landed uneventfully. Once I got on the ground; my instructor briefed me on the situation and what happened. I unknowingly ended up 150 feet above the plane I was told to follow as I approached final. The other plane had extended their downwind longer than I had; so we were approaching final at the same time. I never saw the plane once I had turned downwind. The plane that I saw land was #1 in the pattern; and I thought this was the plane I was following. Therefore; I thought the plane I was following had already landed; and I turned in to land thinking the plane I was following was already on the ground.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: C152 student pilot and instructor reported the student executed a go-around when Tower Controller noticed loss of separation between the student's aircraft and another on short final.

Narrative: I was on my 5th landing in the pattern of my first solo. On the upwind; ATC told me that I was #3 to land and to follow traffic entering the downwind; which I had in sight. I extended my upwind to follow the traffic. When I was about midfield of the downwind; I saw a plane below me land which I thought was the plane I was told to follow because I no longer saw a plane in front of me. I turned to final and was told to go around because an airplane was below me. I went around; making left traffic; saw the other plane break off; and landed uneventfully. Once I got on the ground; my instructor briefed me on the situation and what happened. I unknowingly ended up 150 feet above the plane I was told to follow as I approached final. The other plane had extended their downwind longer than I had; so we were approaching final at the same time. I never saw the plane once I had turned downwind. The plane that I saw land was #1 in the pattern; and I thought this was the plane I was following. Therefore; I thought the plane I was following had already landed; and I turned in to land thinking the plane I was following was already on the ground.

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.