Narrative:

We were set up to fly a visual approach on one runway; but the wind spread increased and was reported gusting. So we elected to fly a visual to a runway more aligned with the wind. ATC said to advise the field in sight; but we were still IMC so I said we would advise when were able. We came out of the clouds and called the field in sight; and were immediately cleared for a visual and told to contact tower. However; when we came out of the clouds; there was a group of towers at our 12 o'clock; and I verbalized to the other pilot that we were headed for them. We started to descend and I could tell we were getting closer to the towers and once he saw them; he started a turn away from the towers. At this time [we] received a 'caution obstacle' aural message. The flying pilot disconnected the autopilot and climbed away from the towers and the message quickly cleared while still VMC; the clouds were approximately 1;000 - 1;200 ft. Above the highest obstacle; which meant that the time available to see and avoid obstacles was very short after coming out of the clouds. ATC vectoring us towards the towers in IMC and then quickly clearing us for a visual approach once we were in VMC exacerbated the issue. During our approach briefing; identifying the highest obstacle on the approach chart would have also helped to mitigate this threat.a more thorough approach briefing including a notation of the highest obstacles in the area would have been appropriate for this approach. A slightly different vector from ATC; or at least a communication of the obstacles would; while not entirely necessary; have helped to enhance situational awareness.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: CRJ-200 Captain reported an inflight near miss with a group of towers during a visual approach.

Narrative: We were set up to fly a visual approach on one runway; but the wind spread increased and was reported gusting. So we elected to fly a visual to a runway more aligned with the wind. ATC said to advise the field in sight; but we were still IMC so I said we would advise when were able. We came out of the clouds and called the field in sight; and were immediately cleared for a visual and told to contact Tower. However; when we came out of the clouds; there was a group of towers at our 12 o'clock; and I verbalized to the other pilot that we were headed for them. We started to descend and I could tell we were getting closer to the towers and once he saw them; he started a turn away from the towers. At this time [we] received a 'Caution Obstacle' aural message. The flying pilot disconnected the autopilot and climbed away from the towers and the message quickly cleared While still VMC; the clouds were approximately 1;000 - 1;200 ft. above the highest obstacle; which meant that the time available to see and avoid obstacles was very short after coming out of the clouds. ATC vectoring us towards the towers in IMC and then quickly clearing us for a visual approach once we were in VMC exacerbated the issue. During our approach briefing; identifying the highest obstacle on the approach chart would have also helped to mitigate this threat.A more thorough approach briefing including a notation of the highest obstacles in the area would have been appropriate for this approach. A slightly different vector from ATC; or at least a communication of the obstacles would; while not entirely necessary; have helped to enhance situational awareness.

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.