A B737-300 ON A NON PRECISION APCH TO SDF GOT A GPWS TERRAIN ALERT BECAUSE THEY DSNDED BELOW A CHARTED INTERMEDIATE ALT.

Date: 2006-08 · Aircraft: B737-300

Anomalies: deviation-altitude-crossing-restriction-not-met|deviation-altitude-overshoot|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy|inflight-event-encounter-cftt-cfit

Synopsis

A B737-300 ON A NON PRECISION APCH TO SDF GOT A GPWS TERRAIN ALERT BECAUSE THEY DSNDED BELOW A CHARTED INTERMEDIATE ALT.

Narrative

DAY #2 OF A 3-DAY TRIP; FIRST DAY OF 2 WITH THIS FO. FIRST TIME I HAVE FLOWN WITH THIS FO. LEG #3 OF 5 SCHEDULED FLTS THIS DAY. ALL 1-2 HRS FAIRLY SHORT FLTS. FO WAS PF ON THIS FLT TO SDF; BRIEFED ILS RWY 35L APCH AT CRUISE ALT AFTER RECEIVING ATIS AND CALCULATING LNDG DATA ON OPC. DID NOT WRITE DOWN THAT GS WAS OTS AND NOT SURE WHETHER IT WAS ON ATIS OR NOT; BUT DO REMEMBER THERE BEING NUMEROUS TAXI CLOSURES ON IT. FO DID NOT BRIEF THE 4.5 DME INTERMEDIATE LEVELOFF AND I; THE PLT MONITORING; DID NOT CATCH IT EITHER; SO WE SET '663' FOR DECISION ALT ON ALTIMETERS FOR THE ILS APCH. APCH CTL CLRED US FOR THE ILS RWY 35L APCH; GS OUT; AND THEN WE CORRECTED THE DECISION ALT TO 900 FT AT THAT TIME; WHILE IN IMC ON APCH; BUT DID NOT CATCH THE 4.5 DME LEVELOFF AT 1400 FT. AFTER STARTING THE DSCNT AT THE FAF AT 7.6 DME; WE OBTAINED VISUAL CONTACT WITH THE ARPT; RWY AND TERRAIN; AND UPON REACHING ABOUT 1400 FT MSL; I COMMENTED THAT THE TERRAIN WAS GETTING CLOSER AND THE FO COMMENTED THAT WE MAY GET A TERRAIN WARNING; BUT STILL DID NOT NOTICE THE 1400 FT ALT INTERMEDIATE LEVELOFF. THEN APCHING 1000 FT MSL; WE RECEIVED THE 'TERRAIN' GPWS WARNING; TOOK EVASIVE ACTION BY THE PF DISCONNECTING THE AUTOPLT AND CLBING AND THE PLT MONITORING TELLING THE PF TO CORRECT THE FLT PATH. WE BOTH HAD VISUAL CONTACT WITH THE TERRAIN; AND DID NOT FEEL IT WAS A DANGEROUS SITUATION; BUT DID THEN NOTICE THE 1400 FT INTERMEDIATE LEVELOFF ON THE APCH CHART. WE DID NOT FEEL WE HAD TO DO A GAR; AND AFTER CORRECTING THE FLT PATH; WE CONTINUED THE VISUAL APCH TO LNDG. WE ALSO DID NOT RECEIVE ANY WARNINGS FROM APCH CTL OR TWR ABOUT ANY ALT OR TERRAIN CONFLICTS. CHK AND CIRCLE THE NOTAMS THAT ARE PERTINENT TO ALL POSSIBLE APCHS TO THE DEST ARPT. I THOUGHT WE WOULD BE DOING THE RWY 17R APCH; AND DID NOT SUFFICIENTLY LOOK AT THE OTHER APCHS BEFORE WE LEFT THE GATE. I ALSO DID NOT WRITE DOWN ALL OF THE TXWY CLOSURES AND INOP APCH COMPONENTS; IF THE ATIS DID SAY THE GS WAS OTS. I ALSO NOW CIRCLED THE 4.5 DME INTERMEDIATE LEVELOFF ON MY APCH CHART AND WILL BE MORE DILIGENT ON NON-PRECISION APCHS IN THE FUTURE. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 706574: WE WERE ON ARR INTO SDF AND WERE EXPECTING AN ILS TO RWY 35L. THE ATIS WAS RPTING 2000 FT BROKEN; SO I BRIEFED A PRECISION APCH AND EXPECTED TO BREAK OUT ACCORDINGLY. HOWEVER; ATC CLRED US FOR THE LOC TO RWY 35L. APPARENTLY THE GS WAS OTS; BUT WE WERE UNAWARE OF THIS. I VERY QUICKLY BRIEFED THE STEP-DOWNS FOR THE LOC AND CONTINUED THE APCH. AS I DSNDED FROM 2400 TO 900 FT (THE GS OUT MINIMUMS FOR THE APCH) WE BROKE OUT INTO VISUAL CONDITIONS AND BOTH MADE COMMENTS ABOUT HOW LOW WE APPEARED. ABOUT THEN THE GPWS ALERTED; 'TOO LOW; TERRAIN; TOO LOW; TERRAIN.' I IMMEDIATELY DISCONNECTED THE AUTOPLT AND CLBED TO SILENCE THE TERRAIN ALERT. WE WERE VMC; SO I SAFELY CONTINUED THE APCH AND LANDED. IT WAS THEN THAT THE CAPT REALIZED THAT WE WERE SUPPOSED TO LEVEL OFF AT AN INTERMEDIATE STEP-DOWN ALT OF 1400 FT UNTIL 4.5 DME. THIS STEP-DOWN WAS OVERLOOKED BY BOTH OF US. MORE ATTN SHOULD HAVE BEEN PAID TO THE NOTAMS FOR THIS FLT. HAD WE NOTICED THAT THE GS WAS OTS SOONER; WE WOULD HAVE BRIEFED THE CORRECT APCH AND I (AS THE PLT FLYING THE AIRPLANE) WOULD HAVE DELIBERATELY BRIEFED THE STEP-DOWN ALTS. IN THE PAST; I HAVE NOTICED THAT WE CAN BE A BIT LAZY ABOUT NOTAMS; BUT IN THIS PARTICULAR CASE; IT MADE A HUGE DIFFERENCE. THE KEY IS TO NOT HAVE TO RUSH ANYTHING.

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