EMB145 First Officer reports Captain as flying pilot descending early during ILS approach and getting well below glide slope until questioned.
Synopsis
EMB145 First Officer reports Captain as flying pilot descending early during ILS approach and getting well below glide slope until questioned.
Narrative
We were flying IMC; overcast at 800 FT AGL. Captain was pilot flying; First Officer was pilot not flying. We were issued the clearance; 'Maintain 2;000 FT until established; cleared for the ILS Runway XXL.' Captain was flying at 2;000 FT; and approach mode was armed. I looked at Primary Flight Display; and saw LOC and GS standing by. Autopilot commanded turn to capture LOC and LOC was captured. We were still below the GS; but level at 2;000 FT AGL as assigned. We were issued a handoff to Tower and I changed to Tower frequency and said we were on the ILS Runway XXL; and we were cleared to land by Tower. I looked down at my approach plate to ID FAF and GS intercept altitude and to determine 1;000 FT and 500 FT altitudes above Decision Altitude. When I looked up; Vertical Speed was shown on Primary Flight Display and not GS and we were descending through 1;200 FT AGL; 800 FT below our intercept altitude assigned by Approach! Soon after; aural warning; 'GS; GS' was heard and illustrated on Primary Flight Display. I told Captain that we were too low and that we should be at 2;000 FT! Captain was confused and said 'What?' and I read the clearance out loud again; 'Maintain 2;000 FT until established; cleared for ILS Runway XXL Approach!' Captain turned off autopilot; leveled off altitude; and hand flew approach. Captain was clearly nervous and task overloaded because I had to tell him; 'Turn left to capture LOC; OK now turn right LOC moving right...descend GS is below; etc....' This went on for a while. Once LOC and GS were satisfactorily captured; I reached up and re-engaged the autopilot; turning it on. Captain immediately turned autopilot off; and hand flew approach until landing. Captain said he wanted to hand fly approach; even though I came very close to having to take controls from him. I called runway in sight '12:30 o'clock position' and Captain flew visual approach to landing. We broke out of IMC between 1;000 FT and 500 FT AGL.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.