B737-800 captain reports being offered a night visual approach to runway 7R at las from over kepec; ...

Narrative:

Arriving on the kepec arrival we were given a heading after kepec and 8100' altitude. Previous [aircraft] cleared RNAV 7R (which we don't have) along with approach radio terrain clearances on in to 7R from the north. We were asked if we could see the field; we could. We were cleared the visual about 20 miles out. I placed a vnv 10 mi final with a 3 degree GS for 7R. Making a right dogleg to final and descending on that path and still ~12 mi) southwest at 6;000' we received a 2500' call followed by 'caution terrain'. I was concentrating on managing the approach and keeping 7R in sight. I climbed to clear the warning. We were unable to see terrain in the dark desert headed into the bright lights of las. After I climbed the controller asked if I could see the terrain. This is not a good setup. At the time we had a tail wind and were going to land with a 15 kt direct crosswind. None of this alone makes an incident. I feel this is a setup by las approach. Kepec is not a good position to clear for the visual even up to about 15 miles out at night some guidance is required. I also wish we had an RNAV to 7R.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737-800 Captain reports being offered a night visual approach to Runway 7R at LAS from over KEPEC; and accepting. During the maneuver a terrain warning is annunciated and the reporter pulls up to silence the warning before continuing.

Narrative: Arriving on the KEPEC arrival we were given a heading after KEPEC and 8100' altitude. Previous [aircraft] cleared RNAV 7R (which we don't have) along with approach radio terrain clearances on in to 7R from the north. We were asked if we could see the field; we could. We were cleared the visual about 20 miles out. I placed a VNV 10 mi final with a 3 degree GS for 7R. Making a right dogleg to final and descending on that path and still ~12 mi) Southwest at 6;000' we received a 2500' call followed by 'Caution Terrain'. I was concentrating on managing the approach and keeping 7R in sight. I climbed to clear the warning. We were unable to see terrain in the dark desert headed into the bright lights of LAS. After I climbed the controller asked if I could see the terrain. This is not a good setup. At the time we had a tail wind and were going to land with a 15 kt direct crosswind. None of this alone makes an incident. I feel this is a setup by LAS Approach. KEPEC is not a good position to clear for the visual even up to about 15 miles out at night some guidance is required. I also wish we had an RNAV to 7R.

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.

Attributes
ACN	1205466
Time
Date	201409
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	LAS.Airport
State Reference	NV
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-800
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Route In Use	Vectors Visual Approach STAR KEPEC3
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 200 Flight Crew Total 20000 Flight Crew Type 3500
Events
Anomaly	Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT
Miss Distance	Vertical 1860

B737-800 captain reports being offered a night visual approach to runway 7R at las from over kepec; and accepting. During the maneuver a terrain warning is annunciated and the reporter pulls up to silence the warning before continuing.