Commercial Fixed Wing
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine
Situational Awareness; Time Pressure; Distraction
Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT; Inflight Event / Encounter Unstabilized Approach; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance; Flight Crew Became Reoriented; Flight Crew Executed Go Around / Missed Approach; Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Environment - Non Weather Related; Airport; Human Factors; Procedure
Visual approaches to Runway XXR were in use at ZZZ at the time. Due to heavy traffic in the vicinity of the airport; and terrain to the southwest; ATC kept us on a vector that aligned us with a roughly 2 mile final approach to XXR. The airport was extremely difficult to obtain visually; and neither the FO nor myself had it in sight until about 4 miles out. We called the airport in sight; and were cleared for visual approach. At that time; I turned the aircraft to the right to align the aircraft for a downwind in a left hand traffic pattern; and descended the aircraft to 6;500 feet; the appropriate altitude for the 5 mile visual fix. Reaching 6;500 feet; we began to feel uneasy; as the terrain south of the airport forms a bowl; with terrain reaching 8;000 feet in places. Once at the 6;500 feet altitude; we could visually see that there wasn't any room to maneuver the aircraft in the valley to align it with the final approach course (we had about a 3 mile wide; terrain-free swath to work with). At about the same time; ATC issued us a low altitude warning; with the accompanying 'check altitude immediately' instruction. At that time; while on a heading corresponding with base leg; we executed a climb to 7;500 feet; and told tower we were aborting the approach. We overflew the airport and executed a right hand turn to set up for right traffic for XXR; a visual approach which was completed successfully. [Cause was] ATC's vector that led us into a valley not wide enough to maneuver the aircraft on approach. Poor charting of terrain on VFR maps in company publications. I'm filling out a separate safety concern report recommending an additional alert page on the company charts advising pilots of the difficulty of shooting a close-in visual approach to runway XXR from the West.
ZZZ was conducting visual approaches to runways XXR and XXL at the time of the event. ZZZ Approach was descending us for arrival and told us to expect the visual approach for Runway XXR. At about 20 miles from the airport; we were told to proceed direct to the airport and report the field in sight for the visual. At this time we were also told to maintain 9;000 feet for terrain and traffic in the area. We did not obtain visual contact with the airport until about 5 miles away; at which point we informed ZZZ Approach and they cleared us for the visual and told us to contact the tower. At this point the approach controller has us on a vector to intercept approximately 2 mile final for Runway XXR. The Captain made a turn to the right and began a descent to traffic pattern altitude of 6;500 feet to maneuver the aircraft for a stable approach and landing. This turn brought us toward gradually rising terrain northeast of the airport. As we continued to maneuver the aircraft; it became apparent that there was not enough room to safely align with the runway. We initiated a climb and turned back toward the airport. At this time tower issued a low altitude warning and told us to 'check altitude immediately' (we were climbing through 7;000 feet at this time). We responded and said that we were climbing and turning back toward to the airport and that we would need to abort the approach and turn right to re-enter right traffic for XXR. A safe approach and landing was then completed without further incident.ZZZ Approach kept us high due to terrain and traffic and issued a tight vector for a visual approach that only allowed for a 2 mile final for the landing runway. Contributing factors included a busy GA traffic environment and inability to see the airport visually until about 5 miles away.A better way to conduct this approach when arriving from the west would be to join the RNAV approach from vectors or an initial approach fix (especially if this were to be conducted at night) or to vector the aircraft over the airport and down the valley to enter a right downwind for XXR.
Flight crew reported executing a go around due to being below altitude; uncomfortable with the approach; and the airport environment.