A heavy transport flight crew were initially very high on an RNAV approach. They aggressively caught...

Narrative:

We were held high and vectored north by ATC to gain separation to preceding aircraft. Cleared direct fergi at 6.0 and told to slow prior to continuing descent; cleared RNAV approach. Very high at fergi; set 2600 ft in altitude and continued descent to try to regain VNAV. Still high passing daric; set 1700 ft for greyz; intercepted VNAV prior to greyz and tried to select VNAV without it engaging. Then recruised the box and reselected VNAV.I called LNAV/VNAV path and selected zero for altitude. We were VMC with scattered rain showers. The glidepath at setoc appeared correct; but by fonvi the pm (pilot monitoring) said we appeared low. He was looking out the right side at the building along the river. That caused me to look outside and then try to crosscheck the deviation pointers. I deselected the autopilot and started to level the aircraft. I heard the terrain alert and I heard 'obstacle'; while hand flying the approach. We continued the approach and landed. At the gate; I asked what alert the pm heard. I heard 'obstacle'; but did not hear 'caution' or 'pull up'. He stated that he thought he heard 'caution; caution; terrain' followed immediately by 'obstacle pull up'. We discussed the difference between them. I believe that we should have followed procedures for any pull up and gone around.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Heavy Transport Flight Crew were initially very high on an RNAV Approach. They aggressively caught up and then flew through the profile. The Captain then heard a terrain alert and then 'Obstacle'. He continued the approach and landed. The co-pilot had heard 'Obstacle; Pull UP'. The Captain concluded that he should have gone around.

Narrative: We were held high and vectored north by ATC to gain separation to preceding aircraft. Cleared direct FERGI at 6.0 and told to slow prior to continuing descent; cleared RNAV Approach. Very high at FERGI; set 2600 ft in altitude and continued descent to try to regain VNAV. Still high passing DARIC; set 1700 ft for GREYZ; intercepted VNAV prior to GREYZ and tried to select VNAV without it engaging. Then recruised the box and reselected VNAV.I called LNAV/VNAV PATH and selected zero for altitude. We were VMC with scattered rain showers. The glidepath at SETOC appeared correct; but by FONVI the PM (Pilot Monitoring) said we appeared low. He was looking out the right side at the building along the river. That caused me to look outside and then try to crosscheck the deviation pointers. I deselected the autopilot and started to level the aircraft. I heard the terrain alert and I heard 'Obstacle'; while hand flying the approach. We continued the approach and landed. At the gate; I asked what alert the PM heard. I heard 'Obstacle'; but did not hear 'Caution' or 'Pull Up'. He stated that he thought he heard 'Caution; Caution; Terrain' followed immediately by 'Obstacle Pull Up'. We discussed the difference between them. I believe that we should have followed procedures for any PULL UP and gone around.

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	1294824
Time
Date	201509
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	DCA.Airport
State Reference	DC
Environment
Flight Conditions	Mixed
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Large Transport Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 98 Flight Crew Type 6000
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural FAR Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT Inflight Event / Encounter Unstabilized Approach