Commercial Fixed Wing
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Situational Awareness
Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance; Inflight Event / Encounter Unstabilized Approach; Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT
Flight Crew Took Evasive Action; Flight Crew Became Reoriented
Human Factors
Visual approaches were being conducted to Runway 6 in BDL. The 06 glideslope was out of service and I briefed my FO (First Officer) that I wanted to practice a non-managed; non ILS approach since it had been quite a while since I had done one. Approaching the FAF; I pre-selected a 3 degree descent. Apparently I must have pulled the knob slightly and the aircraft began to descend. By the time I realized we were in a descent; the aircraft was crossing a ridge line located at the FAF; causing a single GPWS alert. I immediately disconnected the autopilot and autothrust and stopped the descent. We were already past the terrain; the runway was clearly in sight so I elected to continue. We almost immediately rejoined the correct path and continued a stabilized approach to a normal landing.This event reinforces my belief that it is important to regularly practice approaches that we rarely do for real. It was also a lesson learned for me to be much more vigilant when conducting this type of approach. The other lesson learned is how important it is for the PM (Pilot Monitoring) to challenge any deviations and not to assume the PF (Pilot Flying) is aware. After discussing the event after landing with my FO; I think it was a positive learning experience for both of us.
Air Carrier Captain reported receiving a GPWS terrain alert on a visual approach into BDL.