An air carrier flight crew became distracted while hand flying the aircraft on final approach and in...

Attributes
ACN	1239828
Time
Date	201502
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	SAT.Airport
State Reference	TX
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Commercial Fixed Wing
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	Pilot Not Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Deviation - Altitude Overshoot Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Track / Heading All Types Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT

Narrative:

On approach; cleared visual on vector just prior to base leg; autopilot engaged. Heading select used throughout base turn to about a 10 degree intercept to final. We got a frequency change to tower. I selected app/land mode and autopilot began right turn toward localizer which was going to overshoot final. I disengaged autopilot and reversed turn to left and established a 10 degree intercept to final from overshoot; and inadvertently began a slight descent. I called for 'flaps 22; gear down; before landing checklist.' as I was intercepting centerline (localizer); the pm instructed me to climb. As I began climb I looked at altimeter which was above 2000 ft. (MSL) and pm said we needed to climb back to the 1500 ft. AGL pattern altitude until intercepting GS. We climbed and joined GS and continued the approach to landing.failure of PF to scan the radar altimeter and/or setting pattern altitude in alerter window. Poor VFR instrument scan. Failure of PF to make mental note of pattern altitude. Timing of frequency change had pm heads down. Good catch by pm shortly thereafter.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An air carrier flight crew became distracted while hand flying the aircraft on final approach and inadvertently began a descent before intercepting the glideslope. The pilot monitoring caught the error and commanded a climb just as a 'Landing Gear' callout by CAWS alerted them to their altitude deviation.

Narrative: On approach; cleared visual on vector just prior to base leg; autopilot engaged. Heading select used throughout base turn to about a 10 degree intercept to final. We got a frequency change to tower. I selected APP/LAND mode and autopilot began right turn toward LOC which was going to overshoot final. I disengaged autopilot and reversed turn to left and established a 10 degree intercept to final from overshoot; and inadvertently began a slight descent. I called for 'Flaps 22; gear down; before landing checklist.' As I was intercepting centerline (LOC); the PM instructed me to climb. As I began climb I looked at altimeter which was above 2000 ft. (MSL) and PM said we needed to climb back to the 1500 ft. AGL pattern altitude until intercepting GS. We climbed and joined GS and continued the approach to landing.Failure of PF to scan the radar altimeter and/or setting pattern altitude in alerter window. Poor VFR instrument scan. Failure of PF to make mental note of pattern altitude. Timing of frequency change had PM heads down. Good catch by PM shortly thereafter.

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.