B757 captain report accidentally disconnecting the autopilot; becoming distracted and receiving a lo...

Attributes
ACN	1644737
Time
Date	201905
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	IMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B757 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 195 Flight Crew Total 12952 Flight Crew Type 1639
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Track / Heading All Types Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT Inflight Event / Encounter Unstabilized Approach

Narrative:

Set up for ILS xl after all-nighter to ZZZ. Conditions at ZZZ : rain; 1300 ft ceiling; visibility about 5 miles; dark; 15 knots of wind from northeast. Assigned 170 knots to marker. Reached marker at flaps 20; 170 knots. Called for gear down at marker then flaps 25. I didn't wait long enough between gear and flaps 25; so configuration warning horn sounded. At first I didn't recognize what the horn was for so I grabbed the yoke thinking it might be the autopilot disengaging. I then realized it was just the configuration warning. I leaning to right to look for the flaps 30 speed limit (I normally turn up the panel lights on approach; but I forgot this time). After reading the flap limit speed I looked back at ADI and saw we were in a nose low and left bank attitude. It was then I realized the autopilot was off. I must have hit the autopilot disconnect switch when I grabbed the yoke. I pulled back up to flight director and got back on correct localizer/GS path. At this time ATC issued a low altitude alert. Rest of approach and landing uneventful.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B757 Captain report accidentally disconnecting the autopilot; becoming distracted and receiving a low altitude alert from ATC while on final approach.

Narrative: Set up for ILS XL after all-nighter to ZZZ. Conditions at ZZZ : rain; 1300 ft ceiling; visibility about 5 miles; dark; 15 knots of wind from NE. Assigned 170 knots to marker. Reached marker at flaps 20; 170 knots. Called for gear down at marker then flaps 25. I didn't wait long enough between gear and flaps 25; so configuration warning horn sounded. At first I didn't recognize what the horn was for so I grabbed the yoke thinking it might be the autopilot disengaging. I then realized it was just the configuration warning. I leaning to right to look for the flaps 30 speed limit (I normally turn up the panel lights on approach; but I forgot this time). After reading the flap limit speed I looked back at ADI and saw we were in a nose low and left bank attitude. It was then I realized the autopilot was off. I must have hit the autopilot disconnect switch when I grabbed the yoke. I pulled back up to flight director and got back on correct LOC/GS path. At this time ATC issued a low altitude alert. Rest of approach and landing uneventful.

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.

B757 captain report accidentally disconnecting the autopilot; becoming distracted and receiving a low altitude alert from ATC while on final approach.