Light Transport; Low Wing; 2 Turbojet Eng
Communication Breakdown; Distraction; Confusion
ATC Issue All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter Unstabilized Approach
Airport; Human Factors
We were being vectored for a visual approach to runway 25L. We were on on a left base. I called for flaps 8 and 20. We were told;'Follow aircraft Y ahead; cleared visual 25L.' As I lined up on final using the localizer; I noticed that the aircraft we were following appeared to be off course. I couldn't see the runway; but I could see the aircraft ahead and had the localizer dialed in. At this point the captain and I start a discussion about why the aircraft ahead and the localizer weren't matched up. We were switched to tower.  At this point the runways were barely coming in to view and we could see clearly that the aircraft we were following was lined up for 25R. Tower confirmed this when they told us traffic we were following was landing 25R; additional traffic aircraft Z taking off 25L; Cleared to land 25L. As we continue I see aircraft Z taking the runway. As we continue the gear horn goes off and I realize I hadn't configured past flaps 20. I immediately call for gear down before landing checks. Slow the aircraft and call for flaps 30 and 45. I was always in positive control of the aircraft and landing safely was assured in my mind. However by the time I was fully configured and stable; I was around 600/700 feet AGL. I was aware of company policy that at this point I should go around; however the preceding aircraft Z gave me pause. I made the decision at that moment that going around into the aircraft Z wake would have put the aircraft into a bad situation; and was confident I could make a safe landing; so I continued the landing without incident.
An air crew flying an approach to LAX was instructed to follow 'aircraft Y ahead'. They were confused until they realized that aircraft Y was for a different runway. The confusion and distraction caused them to configure late; but they concluded that the safest course of action would be to land rather than go-around.