ASRS 2092789

Reporter 1

We were in VMC being vectored for the RNAV 17 approach in to AVL. The airport came in to sight and were cleared for the visual Runway 17. As I began to turn in for the base leg in to AVL I thought we were inside of the FAF. So I set 3,000 in the altitude selector. As we began to descend through 4,000 feet it became clear that we’re outside of the FAF. Around 3,500 feet I had clicked the Autopilot off and began ascending up to 4,000 feet. While we were in the recovery the terrain callout was made from the GPWS. The terrain was insight and we were already in the recovery from the error. Cause: Lost awareness of where I was on the approach. We were in VMC and I could see it was clear and had the runway but I forgot where the aircraft was in relation to the approach. Suggestion: To prevent this I should have set the FAF altitude and entered the approach beyond the FAF and tracked the glide slope down from there.

Reporter 2

We were cleared for the visual approach to Runway 17 at AVL and received a terrain conflict. The event started while we were on downwind and at 5,000 feet. Once we passed the final approach fix we began to turn our left base and began a decent. I reported our turn to the Approach Controller as he had instructed and we were handed off to Tower. I noticed that were about to pass through the final approach fix altitude and announced it, the First Officer (FO) immediately turned off the autopilot and began to correct the descent and started to climb to 4,000 ft. The Tower transmitted that we were low and gave us the altimeter setting, at that point we received a "terrain" aural. We were still climbing and the Tower quarried us again and I let the Tower know we were correcting our altitude to 4,000 and we received a second "terrain" followed by a "pull up" in which a slight right course correction was made as we reached the 4,000 feet altitude. We held the 4,000 feet until passing the final approach fix and intercepting the glide path. We then executed the landing without any further incident. Cause: I should have noticed sooner that we were glowing to go through the final approach fix altitude before intercepting the glide path. Suggestion: Ensure that on a visual approach you still maintain altitudes that correlate with safe altitudes such as those on the approach charts.