Cleared for a night visual approach to runway 35L at den; the flight crew of an A319 descended prema...

Narrative:

We were inbound to denver in the early morning on the first day of daylight savings; still very dark with a low overcast below us obscuring the ground. Initially cleared to chola on the ILS 35L at 9;000 ft. The field was called in sight following the query from TRACON and the flight was cleared direct dymon for the visual. Our position was offset 2-3 miles right of the localizer and roughly 12-14 miles from dymon. The ILS was tuned and a good ident verified. I set 7;000 for dymon and the captain began an easy descent to 7;000.despite a good ident; the glide slope indication was approximately one dot above us and wandering slightly. ATC called stating we were below the MVA and below the class B airspace. 1-2 seconds after the ATC call; the 'too low; terrain' warning went off. The captain added power; initiated a climb and called for 8;000 to be set in the altitude window. Pilot not flying set 8;000 and noted the radio altimeter climbing through 1;600 as we passed roughly 7;400. The captain leveled at 8;000; 4-5 miles from dymon; the glide slope reset to a below glide slope indication and the flight proceeded to land without incident.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Cleared for a night visual approach to Runway 35L at DEN; the flight crew of an A319 descended prematurely; exiting the Class B; going below the MVA and triggering the EGPWS TERRAIN warning.

Narrative: We were inbound to Denver in the early morning on the first day of daylight savings; still very dark with a low overcast below us obscuring the ground. Initially cleared to CHOLA on the ILS 35L at 9;000 FT. The field was called in sight following the query from TRACON and the flight was cleared direct DYMON for the visual. Our position was offset 2-3 miles right of the LOC and roughly 12-14 miles from DYMON. The ILS was tuned and a good ident verified. I set 7;000 for DYMON and the Captain began an easy descent to 7;000.Despite a good ident; the glide slope indication was approximately one dot above us and wandering slightly. ATC called stating we were below the MVA and below the Class B airspace. 1-2 seconds after the ATC call; the 'TOO LOW; TERRAIN' warning went off. The Captain added power; initiated a climb and called for 8;000 to be set in the ALT window. Pilot not flying set 8;000 and noted the Radio Altimeter climbing through 1;600 as we passed roughly 7;400. The Captain leveled at 8;000; 4-5 miles from DYMON; the glide slope reset to a below glide slope indication and the flight proceeded to land without incident.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.

Attributes
ACN	937984
Time
Date	201103
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	D01.TRACON
State Reference	CO
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A319
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 70 Flight Crew Total 10000 Flight Crew Type 3500
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT

Cleared for a night visual approach to runway 35L at den; the flight crew of an A319 descended prematurely; exiting the class B; going below the MVA and triggering the egpws terrain warning.