Narrative:

Planned landing at elp; day VMC conditions. First officer was pilot flying. Operating 2 hours late and 12.5 hours into our scheduled duty day of 10.5 hours. Upon checking in with el paso approach we were told to plan visual 8 approach. The previous ATIS was reporting runway 26L in use. We had planned for and briefed the GPS 26L approach. We took note of the safety warnings in the airport briefing guide which indicated both possible terrain warnings and a higher number of unstable approaches at the elp airport. Due to safety concerns about not having an approach to runway 8R we asked for the visual to 26L so we could use the underlying GPS approach for safety. We were then given visual to 26L proceed direct to busey fix and descend and maintain 6000 feet. A steep descent was initiated due to the high number of unstable approaches; and also due to wanting to be down to FAF altitude 5 miles prior for sequencing and activation of the profile approach. Upon passing through 9000 feet the pilot monitoring realized that we were being vectored below the FAF altitude of 6900 feet; and also realized visually and on the terrain display that terrain was very close to our right. Pm asked the controller to confirm our descent altitude of 6000 feet. Initially there was no response from the controller and the first officer initiated a level off due to safety concerns. Shortly after the level off at around 7400 feet the controller came back and informed us he had a low level alert warning and for us to climb and maintain 8000 ft. We also simultaneously received a 'terrain ahead' warning and the first officer initiated a CFIT recovery maneuver and we leveled off at 8000 ft as instructed by elp approach control. We would like to think that we were given the descent altitude of 6000 feet in error and that the controller was the individual who made the mistake; but due to the sequence of events and the extended time on duty we may have either misunderstood the clearance or input the wrong altitude in the altitude select window.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier flight crew reported they received a descent clearance to an altitude below the FAF altitude. The crew stopped the descent and queried ATC. Shortly after level-off; the crew received a terrain warning and executed the prescribed recovery procedure. ATC then assigned a higher altitude.

Narrative: Planned landing at ELP; day VMC conditions. FO was pilot Flying. Operating 2 hours late and 12.5 hours into our scheduled duty day of 10.5 hours. Upon checking in with El Paso Approach we were told to plan visual 8 approach. The previous ATIS was reporting RWY 26L in use. We had planned for and briefed the GPS 26L approach. We took note of the safety warnings in the Airport Briefing Guide which indicated both possible terrain warnings and a higher number of unstable approaches at the ELP airport. Due to safety concerns about not having an approach to RWY 8R we asked for the Visual to 26L so we could use the underlying GPS approach for safety. We were then given Visual to 26L proceed direct to BUSEY fix and descend and maintain 6000 feet. A steep descent was initiated due to the high number of unstable approaches; and also due to wanting to be down to FAF altitude 5 miles prior for sequencing and activation of the Profile Approach. Upon passing through 9000 feet the Pilot Monitoring realized that we were being vectored below the FAF altitude of 6900 feet; and also realized visually and on the Terrain display that Terrain was very close to our right. PM asked the controller to confirm our descent altitude of 6000 feet. Initially there was no response from the controller and the FO initiated a level off due to safety concerns. Shortly after the level off at around 7400 feet the controller came back and informed us he had a low level alert warning and for us to climb and maintain 8000 ft. We also simultaneously received a 'Terrain Ahead' warning and the FO initiated a CFIT recovery maneuver and we leveled off at 8000 ft as instructed by ELP approach control. We would like to think that we were given the descent altitude of 6000 feet in error and that the controller was the individual who made the mistake; but due to the sequence of events and the extended time on duty we may have either misunderstood the clearance or input the wrong altitude in the altitude select window.

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.