A Q400 got a GPWS terrain warning on the RNAV 34L approach to rno. The flight crew executed a go-aro...

Narrative:

On approach into reno; we were cleared for the visual to runway 34L and advised that the localizer was not available. We loaded the RNAV to runway 34L for a backup and I asked the first officer to confirm the altitudes on the approach. They agreed with the 12-3 RNAV (GPS) runway 34L altitudes. I followed the VNAV descent profile and received a GPWS 'pull up' warning in the vicinity of febak. The radar altimeter at that point showed about 900 ft. We executed a go-around and then got further clearance to land on runway 16R. I was watching the terrain and was aware visually that there was a hill below us as we continued for runway 34L. I am not sure why the GPWS alert went off; but followed the guidance to execute a missed approach when it did. We advised tower the reason for our go-around. When we landed; they asked that we call them on the telephone. I spoke with the tower controller who wanted to confirm the reason for the go-around was a GPWS warning and I concurred. Supplemental information from acn 830988: I cannot say why this happened. We were on the VNAV path. I would imagine that with the high terrain in the area we may have had a momentary descent rate increase that caused the GPWS system to activate.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Q400 got a GPWS TERRAIN warning on the RNAV 34L approach to RNO. The flight crew executed a go-around per policy and accepted a vector to a south landing.

Narrative: On approach into Reno; we were cleared for the visual to Runway 34L and advised that the LOC was not available. We loaded the RNAV to Runway 34L for a backup and I asked the First Officer to confirm the altitudes on the approach. They agreed with the 12-3 RNAV (GPS) Runway 34L altitudes. I followed the VNAV descent profile and received a GPWS 'Pull up' warning in the vicinity of FEBAK. The radar altimeter at that point showed about 900 FT. We executed a go-around and then got further clearance to land on Runway 16R. I was watching the terrain and was aware visually that there was a hill below us as we continued for Runway 34L. I am not sure why the GPWS alert went off; but followed the guidance to execute a missed approach when it did. We advised Tower the reason for our go-around. When we landed; they asked that we call them on the telephone. I spoke with the Tower Controller who wanted to confirm the reason for the go-around was a GPWS warning and I concurred. Supplemental information from ACN 830988: I cannot say why this happened. We were on the VNAV path. I would imagine that with the high terrain in the area we may have had a momentary descent rate increase that caused the GPWS system to activate.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.

Attributes
ACN	831278
Time
Date	200904
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	RNO.Airport
State Reference	NV
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Dash 8-400
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach Landing
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	Pilot Not Flying First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial
Events
Anomaly	Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT

A Q400 got a GPWS terrain warning on the RNAV 34L approach to rno. The flight crew executed a go-around per policy and accepted a vector to a south landing.