Air Carrier flight crew agreed not to respond to an EGPWS Terrain warning on descent into RNO on a CAVU night.
Synopsis
Air Carrier flight crew agreed not to respond to an EGPWS Terrain warning on descent into RNO on a CAVU night.
Narrative
On approach into Reno 16R base leg; we were cleared to intercept the localizer about 9 miles from the end of the runway. We were 1/2 dot above glideslope intercept; our descent rate was 700 FPM and the localizer was was just starting to move. As we turned to intercept the localizer we heard the GPWS alert 'terrain whoop whoop pull up'. This alert happened only once and was a partial alert. The whole alert would have been 'terrain; terrain; whoop whoop pull up'. The conditions were CAVU; we were over the city with excellent visibility of the airport and surrounding area; and we were in the slot to land. No indication from the tower that we were not where we were supposed to be. It was clearly a transient alert with no validity to it. We had no indication on the EGPWS of any terrain. We all agreed this was a random alert (they have happened before). Common sense dictated it was safer for us to continue to land rather than to perform the escape maneuver into mountainous terrain. On the ground maintenance performed a system check and concurred that there was no indication on the system of a true GPWS alert. We wrote up the event in the logbook for tracking by maintenance.
Second reporter narrative
we are supposed to execute the escape maneuver in its entirety. No allowances for head work/crew judgment are included. This was our mistake. Even though; due to the shortness of the alert; we would have started the maneuver after the alert had gone away; we should have executed it regardless. We were alert and well rested. Fatigue was not a factor. In the future; as pilot flying or monitoring; I will ensure that the escape GPWS maneuver is performed in its entirety in accordance with our FOM.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.