 |
37000 Feet | Browse and search NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System |
|
Citation pilot reported a low altitude alert from the tower after descending below a crossing restriction on an RNAV approach.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1518903 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201802 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | HIO.Airport |
| State Reference | OR |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Cessna Citation Undifferentiated or Other Model |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 135 |
| Flight Phase | Final Approach |
| Route In Use | Other RNAV (GPS) RWY 31L |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Pilot Flying Single Pilot |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Flight Instructor |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Deviation - Altitude Crossing Restriction Not Met Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence |
Narrative:
On RNAV approach to RW31L broke out at approximately 800 ft AGL/1000 ft MSL and about 2 miles from visual descent point. Had runway in sight and turned off autopilot. Continued slight descent and within 1 mile of vdp (visual descent point) had descended to about 150 ft below 880 ft restriction published for zabax while scan stayed outside for too long. There was about a 600 ft ceiling at that point which visually caused me to descend in order to maintain sight of the runway. This triggered a low altitude warning alert from the tower causing me to level off; look inside and realize I had descended below the 880 ft restriction at zabax. Tower reported the altimeter setting to which I responded; leveling off and recapturing the glide slope as indicated by the PAPI. Aircraft remained VMC and clear of terrain through the remainder of the approach and would have even without the low altitude warning; however the restriction at zabax was violated due to an early transition to a visual scan. Contributing factor was the desire to keep a constant rate descent rather than the dive and drive mentality. Aircraft is LNAV only with no VNAV capability; but should have been leveled off momentarily at 880 ft.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: Citation pilot reported a low altitude alert from the Tower after descending below a crossing restriction on an RNAV approach.
Narrative: On RNAV approach to RW31L broke out at approximately 800 ft AGL/1000 ft MSL and about 2 miles from visual descent point. Had runway in sight and turned off autopilot. Continued slight descent and within 1 mile of VDP (Visual Descent Point) had descended to about 150 ft below 880 ft restriction published for ZABAX while scan stayed outside for too long. There was about a 600 ft ceiling at that point which visually caused me to descend in order to maintain sight of the runway. This triggered a low altitude warning alert from the Tower causing me to level off; look inside and realize I had descended below the 880 ft restriction at ZABAX. Tower reported the altimeter setting to which I responded; leveling off and recapturing the glide slope as indicated by the PAPI. Aircraft remained VMC and clear of terrain through the remainder of the approach and would have even without the low altitude warning; however the restriction at ZABAX was violated due to an early transition to a visual scan. Contributing factor was the desire to keep a constant rate descent rather than the dive and drive mentality. Aircraft is LNAV only with no VNAV capability; but should have been leveled off momentarily at 880 ft.
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.