Single engine turboprop pilot reports setting up the EFIS for a visual approach and mistakenly setti...

Attributes
ACN	1127499
Time
Date	201311
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	LFT.Airport
State Reference	LA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Small Aircraft
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	MCP
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 70 Flight Crew Total 8500 Flight Crew Type 70
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT

Narrative:

While in descent to an unfamiliar report; though the weather was VMC; I set up and prepared for an ILS approach to back up the visual runway 4R in lft. Then new weather came out and I was advised that runway 11 was now the arrival runway. Though the VOR approach to [runway] 11 was not available at night; I referenced the altitudes on the approach for descent guidance to the airport after I was cleared for the visual approach. In the meantime I set up the EFIS for a visual approach to the runway. In doing so; I mistakenly set my selected altitude to 0 instead of 'off.' in doing so; the flight director commanded a greater descent; which [I] mistakenly followed. By the time I realized my mistake; I received a 'low altitude warning' from ATC at 850 ft. I climbed back up to 1;000 ft AGL; and made a normal descent and landing. I guess what I take away from the incident was that though the electronic navigation systems onboard the airplane; can be invaluable tools for situational awareness; I still need to use common sense airmanship to help guard against the human errors that still occur.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Single engine turboprop pilot reports setting up the EFIS for a visual approach and mistakenly setting selected altitude to 0 instead of 'OFF.' This results in an early descent and a low altitude warning from ATC.

Narrative: While in descent to an unfamiliar report; though the weather was VMC; I set up and prepared for an ILS approach to back up the visual Runway 4R in LFT. Then new weather came out and I was advised that Runway 11 was now the arrival runway. Though the VOR approach to [Runway] 11 was not available at night; I referenced the altitudes on the approach for descent guidance to the airport after I was cleared for the visual approach. In the meantime I set up the EFIS for a visual approach to the runway. In doing so; I mistakenly set my selected altitude to 0 instead of 'OFF.' In doing so; the flight director commanded a greater descent; which [I] mistakenly followed. By the time I realized my mistake; I received a 'Low altitude warning' from ATC at 850 FT. I climbed back up to 1;000 FT AGL; and made a normal descent and landing. I guess what I take away from the incident was that though the electronic navigation systems onboard the airplane; can be invaluable tools for situational awareness; I still need to use common sense airmanship to help guard against the human errors that still occur.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Single engine turboprop pilot reports setting up the EFIS for a visual approach and mistakenly setting selected altitude to 0 instead of 'off.' this results in an early descent and a low altitude warning from ATC.