Date: 201201
Local time of day: 1201-1800
Location: PSP.Tower, CA
Flight conditions: VMC
Weather elements / visibility: Turbulence
Light: Night
Aircraft: A320
Operator: Air Carrier
Operating under: Part 121
Flight plan: IFR
Mission: Passenger
Flight phase: Initial Approach
ATC / advisory: Tower PSP
Reporter organization: Air Carrier
Reporter function: Pilot Not Flying; First Officer
Reporter qualification: Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Human factors: Confusion; Situational Awareness
Anomaly: Deviation - Track / Heading All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance
Detector: Person Flight Crew
When detected: In-flight
Result: Flight Crew Became Reoriented; Flight Crew Executed Go Around / Missed Approach
Contributing factors: Airport; Human Factors
Primary problem: Human Factors

Narrative: Out of 12;000 FT in descent into PSP we were queried by ATC if we had the airport in sight. We were just coming up upon abeam the airport and eventually were cleared for the visual to Runway 31L. I told the approach controller that we would be making a longer downwind to lose altitude plus both myself and the Captain had never been to this airport before so we wanted to play it cautiously. We planned on flying all the fixes on the approach but once we were comfortable with our altitude and space we turned towards the airport for the approach. We were probably 15 to 20 miles out with the airport environment in sight. We had the beacon; as well as some airport lighting in sight and were following the published approach course for the VOR-B approach to 31L. At least 10 miles out we had what we believed to be the runway and the VASI in sight. We configured prior to the final approach fix and descended along the VOR-B course. Never once did we see a second set of runway lights or anything to make us believe this was the wrong runway. I did get the feeling that the runway looked small but thought it was just an optical illusion born of the terrain. We descended below MDA (2;350 FT AGL with airport elev. of 477 FT) on the approach course to fly visually to the runway. At somewhere below 1;000 FT AGL I still had the feeling that something didn't look right. The runway lights were very bright and we were right on the VASI. Somewhere in this area I realized that we were lined up on the wrong runway as I started noticing the lights for the other runway. The lights for RWY 31L were much farther spaced out and definitely seemed to be at a much lower intensity. I immediately stated to the Captain that we were lined up for 31R and we needed to go around. We performed the go-around and returned to land runway 31L without further incident. No other traffic was evident and no special handling was needed. Neither the Captain nor myself had ever previously been to PSP. The key for our error was the fact that 10 to 15 or so miles out we had the runway lights and the VASI in sight for one runway on the airport. We made the incorrect assumption that that was for our runway. Unfortunately they were for Runway 31R. We knew there were 2 runways that were close together parallel from our briefing but assumed since the lighting was so bright it must have been the correct runway. Upon our return to the airport after the go-around we guessed that the runway lights for 31R were probably at Medium to High and the runway lights for 31L were probably at low. The lights for 31R were also closer together and appeared to be newer (white) while 31L appeared to older (yellow). We did find it rather odd after the fact that 31R was so well lit while 31L was definitely not. What we should have done is found both runways upon getting closer to the airport to guarantee that we were lined up with the correct runway. As there is no ILS or LOC for lateral guidance; we discussed possibly extending the center line on the runway in the MCDU to better orientate the offset center line of the correct runway. Also; the First Officer side MCDU had gone blank in the descent and was inop causing another distraction. As we discussed; extending the center line on the runway on the MCDU was an option we could have taken advantage of. The reality is; we just need to make sure we can verify that we are lined up with the correct runway since there is truly no lateral guidance available here. In this case we should have made sure we had both runways in sight so we could verify that we were headed to the correct runway. I do feel we made the correct go around call rather then forcing a possible unstable approach.




Synopsis: A320 First Officer determines late in a visual approach to Runway 31L at PSP that they are lined up with Runway 31R and calls for a go around.  The lights for Runway 31R were far brighter and whiter than those for Runway 31L.