Narrative:

We were inbound to rizer IAF for landing runway 24 at isp. Autopilot was engaged; level change was selected and speed was selected at 210 knots. We were in LNAV to rizer at that time; with about 5 to 6 miles to go. I think; but am not positive; that approach control had already handed us off to tower. First officer called field in sight; and we were cleared for the visual approach to runway 24 by either approach or tower (I don't recall if the handoff had been made at that time). We were in VMC conditions with unlimited visibility; and I had good awareness of the airfield; runway and all the surrounding terrain. Shortly thereafter; tower told us to widen our turn to accommodate traffic ahead of us on short final. Used heading select to turnout about 40 degrees right; and extend our downwind/base leg. Meanwhile; aircraft was still descending (autopilot engaged still) to 1400 ft; which is the altitude for rizer. As we were turning to final; first officer made a statement that it looked like we were getting low. I was focused outside the aircraft at the time; visually watching terrain; the field; and the runway. On the first officer's comment; I disconnected the autopilot and autothrottles; and continued the turn onto final. We were about three miles from rizer. I noticed that our altitude was about 1200 ft and we simultaneously got a call from tower to check our altitude; as they said they got a low altitude alert on us. We corrected back and continued visual approach and landing on runway 24.when dealing with visual approach and possible arrival vectoring; we need to be especially cognizant of MSA's and or MVA's; and what we have set up the automation to do for us; prior to disconnecting the autopilot; and manually flying the aircraft. When things change on an approach (vectoring) we have to realize the automation may need to be changed to compensate for new conditions; or a total shift to manual control may be more appropriate.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier Captain reported descending to ISP Runway 24. While descending to cross the RIZER IAF at 1;400 feet they became distracted after ATC requested a turn for spacing. The First Officer recognized their low altitude just as ATC called with a low altitude alert.

Narrative: We were inbound to RIZER IAF for landing Runway 24 at ISP. Autopilot was engaged; Level Change was selected and Speed was selected at 210 knots. We were in LNAV to RIZER at that time; with about 5 to 6 miles to go. I think; but am not positive; that Approach Control had already handed us off to Tower. F/O called field in sight; and we were cleared for the visual approach to Runway 24 by either Approach or Tower (I don't recall if the handoff had been made at that time). We were in VMC conditions with unlimited visibility; and I had good awareness of the airfield; runway and all the surrounding terrain. Shortly thereafter; Tower told us to widen our turn to accommodate traffic ahead of us on short final. Used heading select to turnout about 40 degrees right; and extend our downwind/base leg. Meanwhile; aircraft was still descending (autopilot engaged still) to 1400 ft; which is the altitude for RIZER. As we were turning to final; FO made a statement that it looked like we were getting low. I was focused outside the aircraft at the time; visually watching terrain; the field; and the runway. On the FO's comment; I disconnected the autopilot and autothrottles; and continued the turn onto final. We were about three miles from RIZER. I noticed that our altitude was about 1200 ft and we simultaneously got a call from Tower to check our altitude; as they said they got a low altitude alert on us. We corrected back and continued visual approach and landing on Runway 24.When dealing with visual approach and possible arrival vectoring; we need to be especially cognizant of MSA's and or MVA's; and what we have set up the automation to do for us; prior to disconnecting the autopilot; and manually flying the aircraft. When things change on an approach (vectoring) we have to realize the automation may need to be changed to compensate for new conditions; or a total shift to manual control may be more appropriate.

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.