A B737 descending on a night visual to tus 11L received a too low terrain warning; executed the esca...

Narrative:

We were on final descent into tucson from approximately 15 miles northwest at 6;000 ft MSL. ATC cleared us to calls intersection; and then cleared us for the visual to runway 11L. We had discussed the high terrain in the area during the arrival briefing and were monitoring it on the aircraft display. We could also make out the terrain visually due to ambient lighting in the area. We no longer could see any terrain in front of us on the display; and we decided we were close to calls intersection; which has a restriction of at or above 5;000 ft MSL. Pilot flying started a descent from 6;000 ft to 5;000 ft. Shortly after; we heard the audible warning; 'caution terrain'. The pilot flying executed a go-around; climbed to 7;000 ft MSL; and ATC vectored us back around for an uneventful landing. Intercept the ILS or visual approach from a fix outside of calls or be vectored east of final where there is no terrain.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B737 descending on a night visual to TUS 11L received a TOO LOW TERRAIN warning; executed the escape maneuver and were vectored around for another approach.

Narrative: We were on final descent into Tucson from approximately 15 miles northwest at 6;000 FT MSL. ATC cleared us to CALLS Intersection; and then cleared us for the visual to Runway 11L. We had discussed the high terrain in the area during the arrival briefing and were monitoring it on the aircraft display. We could also make out the terrain visually due to ambient lighting in the area. We no longer could see any terrain in front of us on the display; and we decided we were close to CALLS Intersection; which has a restriction of at or above 5;000 FT MSL. Pilot flying started a descent from 6;000 FT to 5;000 FT. Shortly after; we heard the audible warning; 'Caution Terrain'. The pilot flying executed a go-around; climbed to 7;000 FT MSL; and ATC vectored us back around for an uneventful landing. Intercept the ILS or visual approach from a fix outside of CALLS or be vectored east of final where there is no terrain.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 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	993934
Time
Date	201202
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	TUS.Airport
State Reference	AZ
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-300
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying First Officer
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 185
Person 2
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 258
Events
Anomaly	Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT

A B737 descending on a night visual to tus 11L received a too low terrain warning; executed the escape maneuver and were vectored around for another approach.