A321 flight crew reported they experienced a cftt incident during a night visual approach to las air...

Attributes
ACN	1461316
Time
Date	201707
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	LAS.Airport
State Reference	NV
Environment
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A321
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach Final Approach
Route In Use	Visual Approach STAR TYSSN4
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT

Narrative:

On descent to las approach asked if we had the airport insight which we did. ATC cleared us for a visual approach to 25L we turned to the FAF and stared a shallow descent. At approximately 4;500 ft. The 2;500 RA call this was interpreted as normal since airport elevation is 2;200 ft. Seconds later the 'terrain; terrain' GPWS warning started. The captain immediately performed the escape maneuver. We climbed to 6;000 ft. And asked for vectors to the ILS. Then landed normally.there were several factors that lead us to a low altitude event. First while I have operated in las a few times I've never been southwest of the airport past a downwind leg at night. Second the higher terrain east and south made the arrival from the southwest the lower terrain option. When combined with the lack of terrain depicted on this course we continued. Ultimately we descended too early for our distance from the field.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A321 flight crew reported they experienced a CFTT incident during a night visual approach to LAS airport. Situational awareness and high terrain were cited as contributing factors.

Narrative: On descent to LAS approach asked if we had the airport insight which we did. ATC cleared us for a visual approach to 25L we turned to the FAF and stared a shallow descent. At approximately 4;500 ft. the 2;500 RA call this was interpreted as normal since airport elevation is 2;200 ft. Seconds later the 'Terrain; Terrain' GPWS warning started. The captain immediately performed the escape maneuver. We climbed to 6;000 ft. and asked for vectors to the ILS. Then landed normally.There were several factors that lead us to a low altitude event. First while I have operated in LAS a few times I've never been southwest of the airport past a downwind leg at night. Second the higher terrain east and south made the arrival from the southwest the lower terrain option. When combined with the lack of terrain depicted on this course we continued. Ultimately we descended too early for our distance from the field.

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.

A321 flight crew reported they experienced a cftt incident during a night visual approach to las airport. Situational awareness and high terrain were cited as contributing factors.