Light transport aircraft flight crew reported receiving a terrain warning due to an unstabilized app...

Attributes
ACN	1642431
Time
Date	201905
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Light Transport
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Multiengine
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter Unstabilized Approach Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT

Narrative:

VFR weather at ZZZ. Asked approach for the GPS xx for practice. [They] cleared us for the approach. Leveled off at 3000 ft at ZZZZ. Captain armed the VNAV (vertical navigation) and I set MDA (minimum descent altitude). I was distracted by trying to locate VFR traffic in the pattern at ZZZ. Aircraft descended below final approach fix altitude 2300 ft at ZZZZZ1. I believe we were at about 1800 ft. We got a terrain alert and captain immediately turned off auto pilot and climbed to a safe altitude and leveled off. We were VFR at the time runway in sight and continued to land and captured the VASI. Cancelled IFR with approach prior to landing. I needed to pay more attention to the approach altitudes and automation modes. Pay less attention to traffic.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Light transport aircraft flight crew reported receiving a terrain warning due to an unstabilized approach.

Narrative: VFR weather at ZZZ. Asked Approach for the GPS XX for practice. [They] cleared us for the approach. Leveled off at 3000 ft at ZZZZ. Captain armed the VNAV (Vertical Navigation) and I set MDA (Minimum Descent Altitude). I was distracted by trying to locate VFR traffic in the pattern at ZZZ. Aircraft descended below final approach fix altitude 2300 ft at ZZZZZ1. I believe we were at about 1800 ft. We got a terrain alert and Captain immediately turned off auto pilot and climbed to a safe altitude and leveled off. We were VFR at the time runway in sight and continued to land and captured the VASI. Cancelled IFR with Approach prior to landing. I needed to pay more attention to the approach altitudes and automation modes. Pay less attention to traffic.

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.