Narrative:

While being vectored on a left downwind for runway 26 at abq; approach held us high at 11;000' till abeam the airport and then descended us to 9000' at 180 kts. We called the airport and then were cleared for the visual approach to 26. We configured for flaps 30 approach; because we were high and ran the checklist. As we turned base we could clearly see the beacon and hill off our left wing; as we turned around it. ATC said keep the turn tight; with another air carrier aircraft to follow; which we were already doing as we came thru 7200'. We received a short two word 'caution terrain.' I told the first officer to level out as we lined up on final with a two red over white VASI. We leveled and then continued a shallow descent rate at 7000' until we joined the final and VASI. We continued our descent for landing. With the city lights in the background and the hill and other terrain still in sight; we continued the visual approach. We talked about going around; but with the outside visibility and residual light so bright that we could see the terrain; we continued. We never had a high sink rate or airspeed; and we were right on vref in the turn. In the future; a pilot should keep above 7500 ft until on final when flying a 5 or 6 mile arc from the south. A special plate should be in the chart manual to use when doing a 26 visual approach. Publish a flight crew safety alert similar to what tus has for 26 visual approaches. We discussed how we would have done the approach different after landing and parking at the gate.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An Air Carrier crew reported a Terrain Warning on a visual approach to ABQ Runway 26 as they turned base to final from the South. A recommended altitude bulletin would help avoid the warnings.

Narrative: While being vectored on a left downwind for Runway 26 at ABQ; Approach held us high at 11;000' till abeam the airport and then descended us to 9000' at 180 kts. We called the airport and then were cleared for the visual approach to 26. We configured for flaps 30 approach; because we were high and ran the checklist. As we turned base we could clearly see the beacon and hill off our left wing; as we turned around it. ATC said keep the turn tight; with another air carrier aircraft to follow; which we were already doing as we came thru 7200'. We received a short two word 'CAUTION TERRAIN.' I told the First Officer to level out as we lined up on final with a two red over white VASI. We leveled and then continued a shallow descent rate at 7000' until we joined the final and VASI. We continued our descent for landing. With the city lights in the background and the hill and other terrain still in sight; we continued the visual approach. We talked about going around; but with the outside visibility and residual light so bright that we could see the terrain; we continued. We never had a high sink rate or airspeed; and we were right on Vref in the turn. In the future; a Pilot should keep above 7500 ft until on final when flying a 5 or 6 mile arc from the south. A special plate should be in the chart manual to use when doing a 26 visual approach. Publish a Flight Crew Safety Alert similar to what TUS has for 26 visual approaches. We discussed how we would have done the approach different after landing and parking at the gate.

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.