Narrative:

I was the pilot flying; and we were on approach for runway 8 in bur. I had briefed the approach extensively prior to descent; and had slowed down to get configured with plenty of time to land on this short runway. This was my first time flying into bur in a 121 operation; it was night VMC; and the ILS was OTS for runway 8. I had loaded the ILS runway 8 into the FMS to back up the lateral navigation for the approach. While configuring and slowing I was on the base leg for runway 8; we advised sct that we had the airport insight and we were cleared for the visual approach for runway 8. Additionally; sct advised us to maintain 3;000 ft until over vny. Since I was unfamiliar with the area; I was looking down to verify the position of vny; since it is not in our FMS database; and does not show up on the mfd. I could not identify exactly where it was on my chart; and as I was dividing my attention I found vny visually. Unfortunately I misidentified vny as bur and thought I had gotten caught high on the approach while I got distracted. I began a slow descent until I could re-identify runway 8 visually; and was currently showing a centered needle on the FMS for runway 8. I lost approximately 200-500 ft below my assigned altitude of 3;000 ft just prior to vny; and corrected due to my first officer's quick recognition of my mistake (ie. I was thinking I was looking at bur; but instead vny). I immediately climbed back to 3;000 ft; and my first officer helped me to re-identify bur runway 8. I got distracted; and was unfamiliar with the field. I was hoping the ILS would be working; as at night this would have helped me with orientation. I did not expect the 3;000 ft crossing altitude; and spent time heads down looking for an unfamiliar airport on the charts. I was somewhat mentally preoccupied with making sure I was on speed; and configured for my first landing at bur; and extremely short runway; at night; with no ILS and terrain in all quadrants. My first officer was my most valuable asset during this event. I feel I could have done a number of things differently; unfortunately; as is usually the case; I didn't think of those things in the 1-2 minute duration of the event. I could have told ATC that I was unfamiliar; and was not sure of the location of vny. I also should have paid closer attention when briefing the approach of nearby airports in the immediate vicinity of bur.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A CRJ200 Captain descended 300 FT into VNY airspace on a visual approach to BUR Runway 8 because he was unfamiliar with VNY's location and the Runway 8 ILS was OTS.

Narrative: I was the pilot flying; and we were on approach for Runway 8 in BUR. I had briefed the approach extensively prior to descent; and had slowed down to get configured with plenty of time to land on this short runway. This was my first time flying into BUR in a 121 operation; it was night VMC; and the ILS was OTS for Runway 8. I had loaded the ILS Runway 8 into the FMS to back up the lateral navigation for the approach. While configuring and slowing I was on the base leg for Runway 8; we advised SCT that we had the airport insight and we were cleared for the visual approach for Runway 8. Additionally; SCT advised us to maintain 3;000 FT until over VNY. Since I was unfamiliar with the area; I was looking down to verify the position of VNY; since it is not in our FMS database; and does not show up on the MFD. I could not identify exactly where it was on my chart; and as I was dividing my attention I found VNY visually. Unfortunately I misidentified VNY as BUR and thought I had gotten caught high on the approach while I got distracted. I began a slow descent until I could re-identify Runway 8 visually; and was currently showing a centered needle on the FMS for Runway 8. I lost approximately 200-500 FT below my assigned altitude of 3;000 FT just prior to VNY; and corrected due to my First Officer's quick recognition of my mistake (IE. I was thinking I was looking at BUR; but instead VNY). I immediately climbed back to 3;000 FT; and my First Officer helped me to re-identify BUR Runway 8. I got distracted; and was unfamiliar with the field. I was hoping the ILS would be working; as at night this would have helped me with orientation. I did not expect the 3;000 FT crossing altitude; and spent time heads down looking for an unfamiliar airport on the charts. I was somewhat mentally preoccupied with making sure I was on speed; and configured for my first landing at BUR; and extremely short runway; at night; with no ILS and terrain in all quadrants. My First Officer was my most valuable asset during this event. I feel I could have done a number of things differently; unfortunately; as is usually the case; I didn't think of those things in the 1-2 minute duration of the event. I could have told ATC that I was unfamiliar; and was not sure of the location of VNY. I also should have paid closer attention when briefing the approach of nearby airports in the immediate vicinity of BUR.

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.