Narrative:

On the dogleg to final for runway 26 abq we received a momentary GPWS terrain warning. A correction of the flight path immediately stopped the warning. Although the captain and I never felt we were in an unsafe situation; we believe that the lack of information about an approach to runway 26 caused this warning to occur; and could be easily repeated by other aircrew unless more information is distributed. This was a night approach into albuquerque under clear skies and light westerly winds. We were descending into abq from the southeast and we were assigned an altitude of 9;200 and a turn to the north for a base leg to runway 26. We had reviewed the terrain to the east of the final course and noted the high terrain on the 10-1 page. Once cleared for a visual approach we began a descent to 6;900 ft targeting a 5 mile final on a 3 degree glide path. The issue we found on review in the morning was that 10-1 page shows the airport on the 10 DME ring from the abq VOR. This leads one to believe that the high terrain is about 7 to 8 miles east of the landing runway; thus a 5 mile final at 6;900 ft seemed appropriate. In fact; the high peaks are approximately 5 miles east to the landing runway. A normal 3 degree glide path at 5 miles puts you very close to these peaks; especially on a base leg from the south. The 10-7 page references the high terrain on this high terrain in the foqa alert; but only in general terms. More specific information regarding this approach should be published for future arrivals from the east or south.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An A319 on a night VMC approach to ABQ Runway 26 received a momentary EGPWS warning on base leg because they believed the charted circle showing terrain was 10 DME from the airport and not the VOR which is west of the airport.

Narrative: On the dogleg to final for Runway 26 ABQ we received a momentary GPWS terrain warning. A correction of the flight path immediately stopped the warning. Although the Captain and I never felt we were in an unsafe situation; we believe that the lack of information about an approach to Runway 26 caused this warning to occur; and could be easily repeated by other aircrew unless more information is distributed. This was a night approach into Albuquerque under clear skies and light westerly winds. We were descending into ABQ from the southeast and we were assigned an altitude of 9;200 and a turn to the north for a base leg to Runway 26. We had reviewed the terrain to the east of the final course and noted the high terrain on the 10-1 page. Once cleared for a visual approach we began a descent to 6;900 FT targeting a 5 mile final on a 3 degree glide path. The issue we found on review in the morning was that 10-1 page shows the airport on the 10 DME ring from the ABQ VOR. This leads one to believe that the high terrain is about 7 to 8 miles east of the landing runway; thus a 5 mile final at 6;900 FT seemed appropriate. In fact; the high peaks are approximately 5 miles east to the landing runway. A normal 3 degree glide path at 5 miles puts you very close to these peaks; especially on a base leg from the south. The 10-7 page references the high terrain on this high terrain in the FOQA Alert; but only in general terms. More specific information regarding this approach should be published for future arrivals from the east or south.

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.