A PA32 SINGLE PLT ENTERED THE PATTERN FOR THE MIL BASE; RDR; WHICH HE MISTOOK FOR GFK; BUT WAS SAVED BY RDR TRACON FROM LNDG AT THE WRONG ARPT.

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I WAS INBOUND TO LAND AT GRAND FORKS; ND (KGFK) FROM THE W. THE CONDITIONS WERE VFR; BUT HUMID AND HAZY. I DSNDED OUT OF 10000 FT (MY ASSIGNED ENRTE ALT); TO 5000 FT AND WAS REQUESTED TO RPT VISUAL ON KGFK. THE ATIS HAD SAID TO EXPECT A VISUAL ON RWY 17R; SO I SCANNED THE HORIZON FOR A N-S RWY AND CONFUSED THE N-S RWY AT THE MIL ARPT; (ROUGHLY 5 MI W OF KGFK); WITH RWY 17R AT KGFK. WHEN I (INCORRECTLY) RPTED KGFK IN SIGHT; THE GRAND FORKS APCH CTLR INSTRUCTED ME TO DSND TO 4000 FT AND NOT TO DSND LOWER UNTIL TFC CLRED. I WAS GIVEN A RADAR VECTOR OF 090 DEGS; TO WHICH I COMPLIED. I WAS CLRED FOR THE APCH TO RWY 17R; BUT INSTRUCTED NOT YET TO DSND. UPON REACHING THE N END OF THE MIL ARPT'S N-S RWY; I TURNED R (S). AFTER PERHAPS 1 OR 2 MINS; THE CTLR CALLED; ASKED IF MY INTENTIONS WERE TO LAND AT KGFK. I REPLIED 'YES.' IT WAS THEN THAT I REALIZED I WAS APCHING THE N END OF THE MIL ARPT'S N-S RWY. THE CTLR ASKED IF I HAD MAINTAINED 4000 FT. I REPLIED 'AFFIRMATIVE;' TO WHICH HE SAID; 'NO HARM DONE; PROCEED DIRECT KGFK AND REPORT IN SIGHT.' TURNING L; I COULD NOW READILY SEE THE KGFK RWYS AND ARPT ENVIRONMENT. I WAS CLRED FOR THE APCH TO RWY 8 AND LANDED. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS: 1) ALTHOUGH 'VFR' CONDITIONS THE SLANT-ANGLE VISIBILITY WAS POOR; SO THAT WHEN I WAS ROUGHLY 9 MI W OF KGFK; PUTTING ME AT ABOUT 4 MI W OF THE MIL ARPT; KGFK WAS NOT DISTINGUISHABLE. 2) THE SIMILAR LAYOUT OF THE 2 ARPTS; WITH EACH HAVING A N-S RWY ON THE W SIDE OF SEVERAL BLDGS; MADE IT EASY TO CONFUSE RWY 17R AT KGFK WITH THE MIL ARPT'S N-S RWY. MOREOVER; THE FACT THAT THE MIL RWY IS ROUGHLY 12000 FT LONG; GAVE IT THE APPEARANCE OF BEING A 7000 FT RWY (THAT IS; RWY 17R AT KGFK) AT A GREATER DISTANCE 3) PLT FATIGUE. I HAD BEEN FLYING FOR ROUGHLY 8 HRS AT THE TIME OF THE MIS-IDENT. CLEARLY; THIS PROB ILLUSTRATES THE IDEA THAT ONCE A 'FACT' IS PERCEIVED AS TRUE; IT REQUIRES A LARGE AMOUNT OF EFFORT TO OVERCOME THAT PERCEPTION. IN THIS CASE; ONCE I HAD IDENTED THE N-S RWY AT THE MIL ARPT AS RWY 17R AT KGFK; I NEGLECTED TO CONTINUE TO XCHK THIS. A QUICK CHK OF MY GPS WOULD HAVE UNCOVERED THIS MISCONCEPTION. INSTEAD; WITH THE CONDITIONS BEING VISUAL (ALTHOUGH POOR; WITH HAZE); MY DECISIONS CONTINUED TO BE DRIVEN BY THE ONE; INCORRECT; PERCEPTION.