Narrative:

Cleared for visual approach to runway 24L at day. Heavy jet traffic on runway 24R. I had airport beacon in sight for visual as rolled out of left turn for final. About 3 mi out, lost sight of beacon and ended up south of field (away from parallel runway on runway 24R). Reported loss of visual of airport to tower and got vector back to airport. No problem with landing. On visual at night, need to assure to have full runway in sight and not just beacon. Easy to lose airport in bright city lights. Tower very helpful as soon as I reported loss of visual with airport. Too easy to get complacent about possible missed approach in clear VFR. But it is easy to lose runway at night at strange airport.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: PLT OF A CESSNA 182 LOST VISUAL CONTACT WITH THE ARPT DURING A VISUAL APCH AND ASKED TWR FOR HELP IN REORIENTATION TO FIND THE RWY. ATC RESPONDED AND THE RPTR LANDED SUCCESSFULLY.

Narrative: CLRED FOR VISUAL APCH TO RWY 24L AT DAY. HVY JET TFC ON RWY 24R. I HAD ARPT BEACON IN SIGHT FOR VISUAL AS ROLLED OUT OF L TURN FOR FINAL. ABOUT 3 MI OUT, LOST SIGHT OF BEACON AND ENDED UP S OF FIELD (AWAY FROM PARALLEL RWY ON RWY 24R). RPTED LOSS OF VISUAL OF ARPT TO TWR AND GOT VECTOR BACK TO ARPT. NO PROB WITH LNDG. ON VISUAL AT NIGHT, NEED TO ASSURE TO HAVE FULL RWY IN SIGHT AND NOT JUST BEACON. EASY TO LOSE ARPT IN BRIGHT CITY LIGHTS. TWR VERY HELPFUL AS SOON AS I RPTED LOSS OF VISUAL WITH ARPT. TOO EASY TO GET COMPLACENT ABOUT POSSIBLE MISSED APCH IN CLR VFR. BUT IT IS EASY TO LOSE RWY AT NIGHT AT STRANGE ARPT.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2007 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.