AN MD80 CREW; ON A VISUAL TO DEN; LINED UP ON RWY 17R; MISSING A LAST MIN CLRNC CHANGE TO LAND ON RWY 16.

Narrative

DURING THE DSCNT INTO DENVER; WE WERE TOLD BY DENVER APCH TO EXPECT RWY 17R. WE SET UP FOR RWY 17R AND WERE TURNED ON TO BASE EXPECTING RWY 17R. SOMETIME DURING THE TURN TO BASE OR ON BASE; WE WERE GIVEN A FREQ CHANGE. WE CALLED THE ARPT IN SIGHT AND WERE CLRED FOR THE VISUAL APCH AND I STARTED TO LINE UP FOR RWY 17R. THE FO SAID THAT HE THOUGHT WE WERE CLRED FOR RWY 16 AND I ASKED HIM TO CONFIRM THAT WITH THE CTLR. HE CONFIRMED THE RWY 16 CLRNC AND I MOVED OVER AND LINED UP WITH RWY 16. WE WERE LATE SWITCHING TO TWR AND RECEIVED LNDG CLRNC ON SHORT FINAL. THERE WAS A MISCOM WITH THE APCH CTLR AND I HAD STARTED TO LINE UP ON THE WRONG RWY BEFORE I REALIZED THAT OUR LNDG RWY HAD BEEN CHANGED. AS I RECALL; THE CTLR ON BASE WAS DIFFERENT FROM THE ONE WHO GAVE US THE EXPECT RWY 17R APCH. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN HELPFUL IF THE CTLR HAD EMPHASIZED THAT THE RWY WAS NOW RWY 16 INSTEAD OF RWY 17R. THE TWR ASKED ME TO CALL AFTER LNDG WHICH I DID TO SEE WHAT HAD HAPPENED. AGAIN; THE MAIN PROB WAS THE LAST SECOND CHANGE IN LNDG RWY FROM WHAT I HAD EXPECTED. THE PERSON I TALKED TO IN THE TWR WAS GOING TO TALK TO APCH TO GET THEIR SIDE OF THE STORY. OBVIOUSLY; I SHOULD HAVE HEARD THE RWY 16 LNDG CLRNC BUT I DID NOT UNTIL I STARTED THE TURN ON TO RWY 17R. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 536573: THE WX WAS GOOD VFR AND WHILE ON BASE LEG WE ADVISED THAT WE HAD THE RWY IN SIGHT. WE WERE SUBSEQUENTLY CLRED FOR A VISUAL APCH TO RWY 16.