A B757 relief pilot in the jumpseat on an all night flight heard the 1;000 ft altitude alerter call ...

Narrative:

During the approach; while on base leg; I was preparing the aircraft logbook for our arrival. While my head was down; I heard the 1;000 ft call and raised my head; but did not see the runway in front of us. As I was realizing what happened the captain (pilot flying) added power and began climbing back to a more appropriate altitude for the aircraft's current location. It appeared the problem was the result of 2;000 being set in the altitude window instead of a higher altitude. I cannot help but feel fatigue was likely a factor as we started the night about 1.5 hours late and were arriving very early in the morning on a flight that is not an 'all-nighter.' during the approach brief and during the approach for any visual approach that is not on a published approach segment; such as downwind; a minimum altitude (pattern altitude) should be determined and all pilots should ensure this altitude is set in the altitude window as added protection.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B757 relief pilot in the jumpseat on an all night flight heard the 1;000 FT altitude alerter call and looked up to see that the aircraft was not near enough to the runway to be at 1;000 FT. The Captain took evasive actionand stated fatigue as a contributing factor.

Narrative: During the approach; while on base leg; I was preparing the aircraft logbook for our arrival. While my head was down; I heard the 1;000 FT call and raised my head; but did not see the runway in front of us. As I was realizing what happened the Captain (pilot flying) added power and began climbing back to a more appropriate altitude for the aircraft's current location. It appeared the problem was the result of 2;000 being set in the altitude window instead of a higher altitude. I cannot help but feel fatigue was likely a factor as we started the night about 1.5 hours late and were arriving very early in the morning on a flight that is not an 'all-nighter.' During the approach brief and during the approach for any visual approach that is not on a published approach segment; such as downwind; a minimum altitude (pattern altitude) should be determined and all pilots should ensure this altitude is set in the altitude window as added protection.

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	900959
Time
Date	201007
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZZ.Airport
State Reference	FO
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B757-200
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Component
Aircraft Component	Altitude Alert
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying Relief Pilot
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT

A B757 relief pilot in the jumpseat on an all night flight heard the 1;000 ft altitude alerter call and looked up to see that the aircraft was not near enough to the runway to be at 1;000 ft. The captain took evasive actionand stated fatigue as a contributing factor.