A regional jet flight crew received a GPWS terrain warning on approach to runway we at crw. There wa...

Narrative:

We were cleared for the visual for runway 23. At the marker we received a GPWS terrain warning. We were on the glide slope and less than 1/2 dot deflection off the localizer at the FAF. Neither the first officer nor I understood why we got this. A deadheading captain to whom I spoke told me he'd also received a warning while IMC. When we got to the hotel I reviewed our aom but found nothing pertinent. I later checked with three other captains; two of whom have received similar warnings. My first officer talked to a pilot who said you almost always get this going into crw. Concerned we may become complacent about GPWS warnings flying into crw; I emailed several union safety volunteers looking for guidance. They suggested I submit this report. I went through aom again and the terrain look ahead alerting feature seems to fit the scenario best as there is a mountain off the departure end of 23--but why would an approach be designed where the look ahead would always be a problem? Finally; I've flown into crw at least three other times without receiving a warning; once landing 5 and twice 23.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Regional Jet flight crew received a GPWS Terrain warning on approach to Runway we at CRW. There was no apparent reason for the warning as they were on the Glide Slope at the FAF and less than 1/2 dot deflection on the Localizer.

Narrative: We were cleared for the visual for Runway 23. At the marker we received a GPWS Terrain warning. We were on the Glide Slope and less than 1/2 dot deflection off the localizer at the FAF. Neither the First Officer nor I understood why we got this. A deadheading Captain to whom I spoke told me he'd also received a warning while IMC. When we got to the hotel I reviewed our AOM but found nothing pertinent. I later checked with three other captains; two of whom have received similar warnings. My First Officer talked to a pilot who said you almost always get this going into CRW. Concerned we may become complacent about GPWS warnings flying into CRW; I emailed several union safety volunteers looking for guidance. They suggested I submit this report. I went through AOM again and the Terrain Look Ahead Alerting feature seems to fit the scenario best as there is a mountain off the departure end of 23--but why would an approach be designed where the look ahead would always be a problem? Finally; I've flown into CRW at least three other times without receiving a warning; once landing 5 and twice 23.

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	967061
Time
Date	201108
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	CRW.TRACON
State Reference	WV
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Commercial Fixed Wing
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	GPWS
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Inflight Event / Encounter Other / Unknown

A regional jet flight crew received a GPWS terrain warning on approach to runway we at crw. There was no apparent reason for the warning as they were on the glide slope at the FAF and less than 1/2 dot deflection on the localizer.