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B737 first officer reports as pilot not flying; the inability of the captain to initiate descent with the autopilot engaged during the FMS bridge visual to sfo. The MCP altitude is set to zero and the autopilot engaged to continue descent. Descent below charted altitude results in a low altitude alert from the tower.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1187396 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201407 |
| Local Time Of Day | 0001-0600 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | SFO.Airport |
| State Reference | CA |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | VMC |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Final Approach |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Component | |
| Aircraft Component | MCP |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | First Officer Pilot Not Flying |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 130 Flight Crew Total 10000 Flight Crew Type 300 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Deviation - Altitude Overshoot Deviation - Procedural Clearance Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT |
Narrative:
Out of 8;000 for 6;000 (set in MCP) captain was given approach clearance. He tried to begin the descent with the autopilot coupled but was unable to get the FMA out of altitude hold. Captain tried to enter vertical speed (V/south) and I think another mode. The captain disengaged the autopilot; began descent; and asked me to get the MCP/FMA into V/south. I rolled the MCP to 5;700 and engaged V/south. I believe it went to 1;300 because he was descending at that rate manually when V/south was engaged. While this was happening the captain lost sight of traffic we were following. I was trying to look ahead left to find the traffic. Captain asked me to arm the approach. I armed the approach mode and queried about MCP altitude. We set 0. I tried again to find traffic and while looking we got a low altitude advisory from tower. Captain had leveled the plane and I reported level to tower. Captain joined the glidepath and recovered to safe operation. The remainder of the approach and landing were uneventful.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: B737 First Officer reports as pilot not flying; the inability of the Captain to initiate descent with the autopilot engaged during the FMS Bridge Visual to SFO. The MCP altitude is set to zero and the autopilot engaged to continue descent. Descent below charted altitude results in a low altitude alert from the Tower.
Narrative: Out of 8;000 for 6;000 (set in MCP) Captain was given approach clearance. He tried to begin the descent with the autopilot coupled but was unable to get the FMA out of altitude hold. Captain tried to enter Vertical Speed (V/S) and I think another mode. The Captain disengaged the autopilot; began descent; and asked me to get the MCP/FMA into V/S. I rolled the MCP to 5;700 and engaged V/S. I believe it went to 1;300 because he was descending at that rate manually when V/S was engaged. While this was happening the Captain lost sight of traffic we were following. I was trying to look ahead left to find the traffic. Captain asked me to arm the approach. I armed the approach mode and queried about MCP altitude. We set 0. I tried again to find traffic and while looking we got a low altitude advisory from Tower. Captain had leveled the plane and I reported level to Tower. Captain joined the glidepath and recovered to safe operation. The remainder of the approach and landing were uneventful.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.