Narrative:

While on radar vectors for the visual approach to runway 24; we were at 5200 feet and approximately 10 miles southwest of the airport on approximately an east heading. I had the city of roanoke in sight off to my left and there was darkness to the right. The GPWS sounded the terrain alarm and we accomplished the terrain avoidance maneuver and leveled off at approximately 6200 feet. We notified ATC and after verifying that we were clear of terrain and obstacles; we were re-cleared to 5200 feet. At this point; we were cleared direct prose and 4000 feet. We realized that the minimum crossing altitude at prose was 4700 feet and we notified ATC who then cleared us to 5000 feet. At this point; I was uneasy about flying a visual approach in a mountainous area at night and since the winds had decreased; we proceeded to request the ILS 34 approach. The rest of the flight was uneventful. After landing; my first officer stated that he had seen antennas to the right of the aircraft and close to our altitude and less than 1/4 mile away when the GPWS sounded. We both had the terrain map displayed on our mfd which did not show any obstacles at the time of the occurrence. Scattered cloud layer at our altitude obscured terrain and obstacles. ATC could have put us on vectors further away from the mountain peaks. Even with few clouds at 4900 feet; maintaining terrain and obstacle clearance could be compromised during a visual approach at night to this runway due to the higher minimum vectoring altitudes required. For future arrivals at night to this runway; I will prefer to fly an instrument approach unless it was clear below 6000 feet to ensure adequate terrain clearance in case ATC issues a vector that compromises terrain/obstacle clearance requirements.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier flight crew reported receiving an GPWS terrain alert while on vectors for a visual approach to ROA.

Narrative: While on radar vectors for the visual approach to runway 24; we were at 5200 feet and approximately 10 miles southwest of the airport on approximately an east heading. I had the city of Roanoke in sight off to my left and there was darkness to the right. The GPWS sounded the terrain alarm and we accomplished the terrain avoidance maneuver and leveled off at approximately 6200 feet. We notified ATC and after verifying that we were clear of terrain and obstacles; we were re-cleared to 5200 feet. At this point; we were cleared direct PROSE and 4000 feet. We realized that the minimum crossing altitude at PROSE was 4700 feet and we notified ATC who then cleared us to 5000 feet. At this point; I was uneasy about flying a visual approach in a mountainous area at night and since the winds had decreased; we proceeded to request the ILS 34 approach. The rest of the flight was uneventful. After landing; my First Officer stated that he had seen antennas to the right of the aircraft and close to our altitude and less than 1/4 mile away when the GPWS sounded. We both had the terrain map displayed on our MFD which did not show any obstacles at the time of the occurrence. Scattered cloud layer at our altitude obscured terrain and obstacles. ATC could have put us on vectors further away from the mountain peaks. Even with few clouds at 4900 feet; maintaining terrain and obstacle clearance could be compromised during a visual approach at night to this runway due to the higher minimum vectoring altitudes required. For future arrivals at night to this runway; I will prefer to fly an instrument approach unless it was clear below 6000 feet to ensure adequate terrain clearance in case ATC issues a vector that compromises terrain/obstacle clearance requirements.

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.