Medium Large Transport; Low Wing; 2 Turbojet Eng
Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Multiengine
Situational Awareness
Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT
Air Traffic Control Issued Advisory / Alert; Flight Crew Became Reoriented; Flight Crew Executed Go Around / Missed Approach; Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Human Factors
Night visual approach to 11L at TUS.  First Officer (FO) flying.  Clear night.  Runway acquired on downwind.  Advised tower 'runway in sight' on base.  During dogleg left turn to final the FO lost sight of his visual acquisition of the runway and lost his intercept angle to the final approach fix.  I also lost sight of the runway as my head was down configuring the aircraft and completing the Before Landing Checklist.  Tower advised of a low altitude alert. We advised tower we had lost sight and requested vectors to another approach.  Landed without incident.  Low runway light setting contributed to our loss of situational awareness.Regardless of who is flying; in the future I will not allow the aircraft to descend below the FAF altitude outside of the fix at any time; even on a visual approach.  I will also be more forceful in asking the tower to turn up the runway lights on night visuals if the lighting environment is difficult.
I was Pilot flying and was cleared for visual approach on downwind with runway clearly in sight. Turning base (left wing down; flying right seat) runway visual was compromised until wings level base roll out. Upon rollout both the captain and I lost visual contact with the runway. The tower advised a low altitude alert and we began a go-around and requested vectors to another approach. We were vectored to a right downwind visual approach and made a normal approach and landing. Flying in right seat airport can be monitored in right base and final turn with better visual reference.Careful attention should be made of FAF altitude before intercepting final approach course. Low runway light settings can make continued runway visual contact difficult when surrounded by bright city lights.
Flight crew reported receiving a low altitude alert from the tower on a night visual approach to TUS runway 11L.