A DH8A CREW; ON A VISUAL APCH TO CLT; FOLLOWED TFC TO THE PARALLEL; LINING UP ON THE WRONG RWY.

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WE WERE CLRED FOR A VISUAL APCH TO RWY 36R AT CLT TO FOLLOW TFC AT 1 O'CLOCK POS. LOOKED OUTSIDE AND SAW A JET AT ABOUT 12 O'CLOCK POS GOING TO 1 O'CLOCK POS; AND CALLED IT IN SIGHT. CAPT WAS CONDUCTING IOE WITH A NEW FO. FO WAS FLYING AND FOLLOWING JET AT 1 O'CLOCK POS. SEVERAL SECONDS LATER; BOTH PLTS NOTICED ANOTHER JET APCHING FROM THE W. THIS SECOND JET WAS ON A CONVERGING COURSE WITH US; SO BOTH PLTS WERE LOOKING OUTSIDE. WE INADVERTENTLY FLEW THROUGH THE RWY 36R LOC AND LINED UP ON RWY 36L FINAL BEHIND THE ORIGINAL 1 O'CLOCK TFC. HAD TO BREAK R TO AVOID HITTING SECOND JET; THEN WE REALIZED THAT WE WERE FOLLOWING THE WRONG ACFT. WE DID NOT SEE THE ACFT WE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE FOLLOWING UNTIL IT LANDED ON RWY 36R. WE KEPT BOTH ACFT GOING TO THE L RWY IN SIGHT AT ALL TIMES. RWY 36R AT CLT HARD TO SEE AT NIGHT DUE TO NUMEROUS BRIGHT LIGHTS E AND W OF RWY. NEW FO HAD NEVER FLOWN TO RWY 36R AT NIGHT. CAPT HAD NOT LANDED ON RWY 36R IN SEVERAL MONTHS. BOTH PLTS WERE LOOKING OUTSIDE AND DID NOT NOTICE THEY WERE LINING UP ON WRONG RWY UNTIL THEY HAD TO TURN R TO AVOID SECOND JET. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 535216: I WAS ON MY THIRD DAY OF IOE TRAINING. I WAS THE PF AND THE CAPT WAS THE PLT MONITORING. ATC CLRED US TO FOLLOW ACFT AT OUR 1 O'CLOCK POS; MAINTAIN 170 KTS; AND CLRED FOR VISUAL RWY 36R. THE CAPT RESPONDED 'WE ARE CLRED VISUAL RWY 36R.' AFTER I SLOWED ACFT TO 170 KTS; I SAW THE ACFT AT OUR 1 O'CLOCK POS AND THE CAPT VERIFIED TO ME 'THAT IS THE ACFT WE WILL FOLLOW.' WE HAD EARLIER BEEN ASSIGNED A HDG OF 320 DEGS; WE WERE ON OUR BASE LEG TO FOLLOW OUR ACFT AT OUR 1 O'CLOCK POS. WE THEN SPOTTED RWY 36R AND CORRECTED BACK ON COURSE FOR FINAL TO RWY 36R; BUT WE HAD ALREADY BLOWN PAST OUR TURN TO FINAL FOR RWY 36R. THE ACFT WE WERE FOLLOWING WAS ON A 10 MI FINAL FOR RWY 36L. WE BOTH HAD MISIDENTED THE ACFT WE WERE FOLLOWING. UPON LNDG; MY CAPT TALKED TO THE TRACON SUPVR ON DUTY.