B727 IS VECTORED TO RWY 8R FINAL APCH COURSE FOR VISUAL APCH; AND ASKED TO RPT ARPT IN SIGHT. PIC ACCEPTS VISUAL APCH CLRNC WHILE FO IS STILL ON INSTS. FO ALIGNS WITH RWY 9R; IS TOLD TO EXECUTE A GAR. ON RESEQUENCING; FO WILL NOT ACCEPT VISUAL APCH AND IS VECTORED FOR AN ILS.

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THE FLT OCCURRED AT NIGHT IN MVFR WX. CREW REVIEWED LATEST ATIS FOR ATL (3 MI VISIBILITY; MIST; 2700 FT BROKEN CLOUDS) AND FO WAS FLYING THE ACFT. CREW REVIEWED ALL CHKLISTS; BRIEFED THE APCH TO ILS RWY 8R AND INSURED CORRECT COURSES AND FREQS WERE SET. ZTL FINAL CTLR VECTORED THE B727 FROM DSCNT; DOWNWIND (5000 FT MSL) AND BASE LEG (360 DEG HDG) DSCNT TO 3000 FT MSL. ACFT WAS CONFIGURED FLAPS 15 DEGS; AIRSPD 180 KTS ON BASE LEG WITH AUTOPLT WORKING/COUPLED. WHILE ON HDG 360 DEGS; THE CTLR ASKED IF WE HAD THE AIRFIELD. FO CONTINUED FLYING INSTS AND CAPT ACKNOWLEDGED HE HAD THE AIRFIELD. FO WAS STILL FLYING INSTS AND COUPLING APCH FOR ILS TO RWY 8R AND NOTICING COURSE INDICATOR WAS FULL SCALE AND FREQ WAS REVERIFIED CORRECT. THE FO DID NOT HAVE A CHANCE TO SEE THE RWY BEFORE WE ACKNOWLEDGED THE VISUAL CLRNC; AND CLOUD BANKS WERE OBSCURING PART OF THE AIRFIELD DETAILS. I ADVISED THE CAPT THAT CDI INDICATED ERRONEOUS DATA. HE (CAPT) ADVISED ME TO DISREGARD IT; TAKE OVER MANUALLY; AND AT THAT INSTANT I SWITCHED FROM INSIDE INST SCAN TO OUTSIDE SCAN. I NOTICED 2 PARALLEL RWYS IMMEDIATELY IN MY SCREEN AND TURNED THE ACFT TO ALIGN WITH WHAT WE ALL BELIEVED TO BE RWY 8R. (THIS WAS NOT THE CASE.) I HAD LITTLE TIME REMAINING TO COMPLETE CONFIGURING (GEAR; FINAL FLAPS) AND ADJUST PITCH. THIS DID NOT ALLOW ME TIME TO SCAN THE ENTIRE FIELD AND CLOUD BANKS ALSO HID AIRFIELD DETAILS. AT ABOUT 1700 FT MSL; TWR ADVISED US THAT WE WERE ALIGNED WITH THE WRONG RWY (RWY 9R) AND ISSUED NEW CLRNC TO 3000 FT MSL AND 180 DEG HDG. WE ACKNOWLEDGED AND PERFORMED MISSED INSTRUCTIONS AND WERE REVECTORED FOR APCH TO RWY 8R. WE ACCOMPLISHED ANOTHER APCH CHK AND I (FO) ADVISED THE CAPT I NEEDED FULL DOGLEG/FINAL VECTORS TO RWY 8R; SO I COULD PROPERLY SCAN RWY AND ENVIRONMENT BEFORE ANY VISUAL CLRNC WAS ACCEPTED IN THIS MVFR WX. ATL APCH REVECTORED US TO RWY 8R AND ON DOGLEG TO FINAL; ASKED US TO ACCEPT A VISUAL TO RWY 8R. WE ADVISED THE CTLR THAT A CLOUD BANK WAS OBSCURING A CLR VIEW TO RWY 8R. HE ISSUED AN ILS 8 APCH CLRNC WHICH WE FLEW AND COMPLETED TO A LNDG ON RWY 8R. THIS INCIDENT OCCURRED EARLY MORNING AND NO OTHER TFC WAS NOTED OR AFFECTED. LESSON LEARNED IS TO ALLOW THE FLYING CREW MEMBER TIME TO SWITCH FROM INST SCAN TO OUTSIDE SCAN AND CONFIRM HE/SHE HAS A VISUAL TO THE RWY AND BELIEVE BACK-UP INSTRUMENTATION (ILS; CDI DATA) BEFORE ACCEPTING VISUAL APCH IN MVFR WX. COMPOUNDING THE VISUAL WAS DARKNESS AND CLOUD BANKS AT 2700 FT WHILE FLYING AT 3000 FT MSL BLOCKED LINE OF SIGHT TO THE AIRFIELD ENVIRONMENT.