An md-11 flight crew cleared for a night time visual approach to runway 35L at den descended prematu...

Attributes
ACN	1138094
Time
Date	201312
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	D01.TRACON
State Reference	CO
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	MD-11
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT

Narrative:

Arriving from the southeast we reported the field in sight. Denver approach cleared us for the visual runway 35L; runway 35L elevation is 5;434 so we descended to 7;000 MSL thinking it would give us 1;500 AGL ground clearance. Leveling at 7;000 MSL and about 5 miles from dymon we noticed 1;000 AGL on the radar altimeter while; at the same time; approach advised us his minimum vectoring altitude in that area was 7;200 MSL. We climbed to 7;200 and intercepted the glideslope at dymon.rising terrain southeast of the field; high field elevation; lack of terrain awareness.if on a visual approach check terrain to ensure there is not a conflict with your altitude and terrain when not on a portion of a published approach.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An MD-11 flight crew cleared for a night time visual approach to Runway 35L at DEN descended prematurely and generated a low altitude alert/below MVA from ATC.

Narrative: Arriving from the southeast we reported the field in sight. Denver Approach cleared us for the visual Runway 35L; Runway 35L elevation is 5;434 so we descended to 7;000 MSL thinking it would give us 1;500 AGL ground clearance. Leveling at 7;000 MSL and about 5 miles from DYMON we noticed 1;000 AGL on the radar altimeter while; at the same time; Approach advised us his minimum vectoring altitude in that area was 7;200 MSL. We climbed to 7;200 and intercepted the glideslope at DYMON.Rising terrain southeast of the field; high field elevation; lack of terrain awareness.If on a visual approach check terrain to ensure there is not a conflict with your altitude and terrain when not on a portion of a published approach.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 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.

An md-11 flight crew cleared for a night time visual approach to runway 35L at den descended prematurely and generated a low altitude alert/below MVA from ATC.