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An erj-175 flight crew accepted a descent clearance to 1500 feet from ATC that they thought might be too low. They questioned the clearance but ATC affirmed the altitude. Later while ATC was issuing vectors for the approach; the controller told them to maintain 2500 feet. The flight crew then climbed to 2500 feet; flew the approach and landed safely.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1266980 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201506 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1801-2400 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | BDL.Airport |
| State Reference | CT |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | IMC |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | EMB ERJ 170/175 ER/LR |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Initial Approach |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | First Officer Pilot Not Flying |
| Person 2 | |
| Function | Captain Pilot Flying |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Procedural FAR Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence |
Narrative:
We were currently being vectored for the RNAV 6 Y to bdl. I don't remember the exact altitude we descended from; maybe 3 or 4 thousand feet? But we were cleared to 1;500 feet. I thought that was kind of low in that area knowing the hills so I said; 'say again.' ATC said ' descend and maintain 1;500 feet.' I responded '1;500 feet [callsign].' I looked at the captain and said 'maybe that's his MVA?' because I noticed the altitude at the final approach fix was 1800. Then I said 'well I guess I'll pull the terrain up on my side' so I displayed terrain on my mfd. I also kept an eye on the radar altimeter on my pfd. I believe it didn't get below 2000 feet. Next the controller said '[callsign] turn left 030 (I think) to intercept descend and maintain 2;500 until established; cleared RNAV Y 6 bradley.' I said 'you gave us 1;500'. He said 'verify altitude.' I said 'we are down to 1;500.' at the time we were about to pass through 1800. He said; 'negative maintain 2;500.' by this time we were on the final approach course. We immediately climbed to 2;500. He told us to switch to tower and we did. We finished the approach and landed safely. This was an ATC error. I asked for the altitude again after it sounded wrong to me. And the second time I got the descend clearance it was the same wrong altitude. So we proceeded with caution and never were the crew or passengers in any danger.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: An ERJ-175 flight crew accepted a descent clearance to 1500 feet from ATC that they thought might be too low. They questioned the clearance but ATC affirmed the altitude. Later while ATC was issuing vectors for the approach; the Controller told them to maintain 2500 feet. The flight crew then climbed to 2500 feet; flew the approach and landed safely.
Narrative: We were currently being vectored for the RNAV 6 Y to BDL. I don't remember the exact altitude we descended from; maybe 3 or 4 thousand feet? But we were cleared to 1;500 feet. I thought that was kind of low in that area knowing the hills so I said; 'say again.' ATC said ' descend and maintain 1;500 feet.' I responded '1;500 feet [callsign].' I looked at the Captain and said 'maybe that's his MVA?' because I noticed the altitude at the final approach fix was 1800. Then I said 'well I guess I'll pull the terrain up on my side' so I displayed terrain on my MFD. I also kept an eye on the radar altimeter on my PFD. I believe it didn't get below 2000 feet. Next the controller said '[callsign] turn left 030 (I think) to intercept descend and maintain 2;500 until established; cleared RNAV Y 6 Bradley.' I said 'you gave us 1;500'. He said 'verify altitude.' I said 'we are down to 1;500.' at the time we were about to pass through 1800. He said; 'negative maintain 2;500.' By this time we were on the final approach course. We immediately climbed to 2;500. He told us to switch to tower and we did. We finished the approach and landed safely. This was an ATC error. I asked for the altitude again after it sounded wrong to me. And the second time I got the descend clearance it was the same wrong altitude. So we proceeded with caution and never were the crew or passengers in any danger.
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.