B727 RECEIVED GPWS 'PULL UP' COMMAND AT 9000 FT WHILE ON VECTOR WITHIN MVA. FLC WERE ADVISED BY CTLR THAT 1 IN 10 FLTS EXPERIENCES A GPWS WARNING IN THE SAME AREA.

Date: 1997-02 · Aircraft: B727 Undifferentiated or Other Model

Anomalies: conflict-airborne-conflict|other-unspecified

Synopsis

B727 RECEIVED GPWS 'PULL UP' COMMAND AT 9000 FT WHILE ON VECTOR WITHIN MVA. FLC WERE ADVISED BY CTLR THAT 1 IN 10 FLTS EXPERIENCES A GPWS WARNING IN THE SAME AREA.

Narrative

FLT WAS BEING VECTORED BY SLC APCH CTL FOR AN ILS APCH TO RWY 34L. AT 29 DME IUUH (APPROX 2 1/2-3 MI W OF THE SLC RWY 34L LOC) FROM A HDG OF 155 DEGS AND AT 9000 FT MSL; SLC APCH ISSUED A L TURN TO 360 DEGS; TOLD US TO MAINTAIN 9000 FT MSL UNTIL ESTABLISHED ON THE LOC AND CLRED US FOR THE ILS RWY 34L APCH. AS WE TURNED L TOWARDS THE 360 DEG INTERCEPT HDG (PASSING THROUGH 060 DEG HDG AND IMC) A 'PULL UP' GPWS WARNING SOUNDED. THE CAPT INITIATED A PULL UP (THE RADIO ALTIMETER INDICATED TERRAIN AT 1000-1100 FT) AND UPON CLBING THROUGH 9500 FT MSL; THE RADIO ALTIMETER BEGAN INCREASING TO 2000-2500 FT AND THE GPWS WARNING STOPPED. THE FO ADVISED SLC APCH OF THE CLB DUE TO TERRAIN. AVOIDANCE AND APCH TOLD US TO DSND TO 9000 FT MSL ASAP DUE TO TFC ABOVE US. WE DSNDED FROM 9600 FT MSL TO 9000 FT MSL AND WERE VECTORED TO THE RWY 34L LOC. THE FLT CONTINUED THE APCH UNEVENTFULLY TO A LNDG ON RWY 34L. IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT AT NO TIME DURING THE 'PULL UP' MANEUVER DID WE GET ANY RA'S ON TCASII AND THAT OUR ALTDEV DID NOT EXCEED 600 FT ABOVE ASSIGNED ALT. AFTER DISCUSSING THE GPWS 'PULL UP' EVENT WITH SLC APCH; WE WERE ADVISED THAT THE 9000 FT MSL VECTOR ALT IS ROUTINELY USED IN THAT SECTOR AND THAT APPROX 1 FLT OUT OF 10 FLTS EXPERIENCES A GPWS WARNING IN THE AREA WHERE WE GOT OUR WARNING. APCH CTL ALSO CONFIRMED THAT NO TFC CONFLICTS OCCURRED DURING THE 'PULL UP' MANEUVER. SINCE IT HAS BEEN DOCUMENTED BY SLC APCH CTL THAT GPWS WARNINGS OCCUR AT 9000 FT MSL IN THIS SECTOR; WHY HASN'T THIS VECTORING ALT BEEN RAISED TO A HT WHERE THE WARNINGS ARE ELIMINATED? A WARNING SHOULD ALSO BE PUBLISHED IN THE SLC SPECIAL PAGES TO ALERT CREWS OF THE POSSIBILITY OF A GPWS WARNING IN THIS SECTOR AT 9000 FT MSL. CLRLY; THE POTENTIAL FOR A MID-AIR COLLISION EXISTS HERE WHEN AN ACFT HAS TO EXECUTE A GPWS TERRAIN PULL UP AND WHILE DOING SO; CLBS INTO THE PATH OF INBOUND TFC ABOVE. ACTION NEEDS TO BE TAKEN ASAP TO FIX THIS PROB. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: RPTR SAID HE THOUGHT THE GPWS WAS CAUSED BY A HILL ON WHICH THE FAIRFIELD VOR IS LOCATED AT A POINT APPROX 32 MI S OF SLC. RPTR SAID HE HAS FLOWN BY IT DURING VISUAL CONDITIONS AND INDICATED THAT IT IS THE ONLY RISING TERRAIN IN THE AREA. RPTR FELT THAT THE PROB COULD BE RESOLVED IF THE MVA WERE RAISED BY 500 FT. RPTR INDICATED CONCERN FOR BEING IN A POS OF RECEIVING A GPWS BELOW ANOTHER ACFT WHILE PERFORMING THE CLB EVASIVE MANEUVER FROM THE TERRAIN AND WHAT IT MIGHT CAUSE THE OTHER ACFT TO DO IN RESPONSE TO A TCASII RA.

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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.