Narrative:

We were left very high coming into tys and cleared for the visual to 23L; we asked if it would be alright if we fly through the localizer course in order to lose a bit more altitude. ATC then turned us right to a heading of 050 and down to 2;700. They told us to expect the localizer approach. We then corrected them and told them we still wanted the visual but needed a bit more room to lose altitude. They recleared us for the visual; at this point we were downwind. I began to turn base and leveled at 2;800 ft. We were between the final approach fix and the intermediate fix and would intercept just outside of the FAF. We then got a terrain warning. We were well clear of all obstacles. We then got the terrain pull up and climbed up about 400 ft until the warning stopped. We landed uneventfully. I am still unsure if this warning was an actual event of a false warning since the controller gave us 2;700 for vectors to the localizer. Either way; I should have stayed higher once being cleared for the visual. We were left high and fast coming in to tys and instead of slowing down then descending; I descended then slowed. I should have done it the opposite way. My experience level contributed to the event.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier flight crew reported an EGPWS 'TERRAIN; PULL UP' warning while flying a left descending base for a visual approach to TYS Runway 23L.

Narrative: We were left very high coming into TYS and cleared for the visual to 23L; we asked if it would be alright if we fly through the LOC course in order to lose a bit more altitude. ATC then turned us right to a heading of 050 and down to 2;700. They told us to expect the localizer approach. We then corrected them and told them we still wanted the visual but needed a bit more room to lose altitude. They recleared us for the visual; at this point we were downwind. I began to turn base and leveled at 2;800 ft. We were between the final approach fix and the intermediate fix and would intercept just outside of the FAF. We then got a terrain warning. We were well clear of all obstacles. We then got the terrain pull up and climbed up about 400 ft until the warning stopped. We landed uneventfully. I am still unsure if this warning was an actual event of a false warning since the controller gave us 2;700 for vectors to the LOC. Either way; I should have stayed higher once being cleared for the visual. We were left high and fast coming in to TYS and instead of slowing down then descending; I descended then slowed. I should have done it the opposite way. My experience level contributed to the event.

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.