Narrative:

Approximately 15 miles west of mht; level 2500 ft about 200 kts; about a 040 heading; auto pilot on. Had beacon in sight; cleared for visual approach 17. Was told to turn final outside of ordie for noise abatement. Once we received clearance for the visual approach I verbalized and selected 1600 ft in altitude select for altitude over ordie. Believe it was confirmed by first officer. Selected vs down approximately 1000 FPM and started descent. First officer noted towers to the right of the aircraft. I saw them and called them in sight. Received GPWS aural 'terrain.' I turned off the auto pilot; stopped descent and started climb. Once we were clear of the terrain; we continued and had a normal approach and landing. This event was caused by 2 things. 1. My failure to brief terrain in my approach brief. I believe the first officer knew about and noticed the terrain before we had the GPWS event. He stated 'MSA in this area is 2500 I think' when I began my descent to 1600 ft. I failed to realize what he was saying due to my failure to brief the terrain and my unfamiliarity with the area. 2. My decision to start my descent to the final approach altitude to soon. If I would have remained at 2500 ft I would have been safely above the terrain. Note on 10-7 page would have made me aware of the terrain.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: CRJ-900 Captain reported receiving a GPWS terrain alert on approach to MHT airport.

Narrative: Approximately 15 miles W of MHT; level 2500 ft about 200 kts; about a 040 heading; auto pilot on. Had beacon in sight; cleared for visual approach 17. Was told to turn final outside of ORDIE for noise abatement. Once we received clearance for the visual approach I verbalized and selected 1600 ft in altitude select for altitude over ORDIE. Believe it was confirmed by FO. Selected VS down approximately 1000 FPM and started descent. FO noted towers to the right of the aircraft. I saw them and called them in sight. Received GPWS aural 'terrain.' I turned off the auto pilot; stopped descent and started climb. Once we were clear of the terrain; we continued and had a normal approach and landing. This event was caused by 2 things. 1. My failure to brief terrain in my approach brief. I believe the FO knew about and noticed the terrain before we had the GPWS event. He stated 'MSA in this area is 2500 I think' when I began my descent to 1600 ft. I failed to realize what he was saying due to my failure to brief the terrain and my unfamiliarity with the area. 2. My decision to start my descent to the final approach altitude to soon. If I would have remained at 2500 ft I would have been safely above the terrain. Note on 10-7 page would have made me aware of the terrain.

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.