Md-80 flight crew reported getting a GPWS 'terrain' warning in the vicinity of jesen on the JAWWS3 a...

Narrative:

On descent into sjc; controller descended us to 5;100 feet in vicinity of jesen on the jawws 3 approach. After being level for about a minute got a radio altimeter announcement indicating 2;500 feet. Crew focused on terrain display when aural GPWS terrain indicated along with pull up. PF complied with redbox and executed climb. After a few seconds and about 150 feet of climb caution disappeared. PF leveled at about 5;400 feet while PNF called ATC of alt deviation and notified ATC of terrain caution. IFR at time of event; broke out VFR with all clear visually and on terrain display. PNF asked ATC if we should descend to assigned 5;100 feet at which he responded to descend to 5;000 feet. PF complied with descent instructions and remaining of approach/landing was uneventful. ATC indicated that this has happened before; but did not seem concerned given the MVA altitude of 5;100 feet for given location. ATC several times stated the altitude of 5;100 feet was correct. Suggestions: raise MVA in suspect area to avoid future terrain warnings. Verify current MVA is 'compatible' with our GPWS system overlays.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: MD-80 flight crew reported getting a GPWS 'Terrain' warning in the vicinity of JESEN on the JAWWS3 arrival to SJC. Crew reported that ATC stated MVA in the area is 5;100 FT.

Narrative: On descent into SJC; controller descended us to 5;100 feet in vicinity of JESEN on the JAWWS 3 approach. After being level for about a minute got a radio altimeter announcement indicating 2;500 feet. Crew focused on Terrain display when aural GPWS TERRAIN indicated along with PULL UP. PF complied with REDBOX and executed climb. After a few seconds and about 150 feet of climb caution disappeared. PF leveled at about 5;400 feet while PNF called ATC of alt deviation and notified ATC of TERRAIN caution. IFR at time of event; broke out VFR with all clear visually and on Terrain display. PNF asked ATC if we should descend to assigned 5;100 feet at which he responded to descend to 5;000 feet. PF complied with descent instructions and remaining of approach/landing was uneventful. ATC indicated that this has happened before; but did not seem concerned given the MVA altitude of 5;100 feet for given location. ATC several times stated the altitude of 5;100 feet was correct. Suggestions: Raise MVA in suspect area to avoid future TERRAIN warnings. Verify current MVA is 'compatible' with our GPWS system overlays.

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	1225068
Time
Date	201412
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	SJC.Airport
State Reference	CA
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	MD-80 Series (DC-9-80) Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Route In Use	STAR JAWWS3
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	Captain Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Clearance Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT

Md-80 flight crew reported getting a GPWS 'terrain' warning in the vicinity of jesen on the JAWWS3 arrival to sjc. Crew reported that ATC stated MVA in the area is 5;100 ft.