A319
Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Instrument
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 163; Flight Crew Type 1983
Situational Awareness
Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT
Flight Crew Became Reoriented; Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Human Factors; Procedure
Being radar vectored for ILS 14 into Medford VMC night. We could see mountain peaks with snow below us. At 11;000 ft. about 15 NE of OED we got a 'Terrain Pull Up'. Conducted CFIT maneuver and climbed to 12000 feet. Notified ATC that we climbed and he was okay. We had no other indications on MFD - no terrain pixels or PFD warnings just an aural warning. The warning only lasted a brief second [and] as soon as I responded the warning went away. Did not see Radio Altimeter. First Officer stated his was at 1;700 ft. Highest MSA around OED in NE quadrant was 10;700 ft. We verified altimeter setting with ATC and we had it set correctly.
We were level at 12;000 ft. being vectored to ILS Runway 14 at MFR. Night VMC conditions. We had good situational awareness of our location and could see the tops of the mountains below us. Min Sector Altitude was 11;800 ft. Cascade Approach gave us a descent to 11;000 ft. We descended and leveled off. I expected that we would pass over the peak ahead at about 1;000 ft. AGL so when the radar altimeter went off at 2;500 ft. AGL and started counting down I was not surprised. At about 1;700 ft. +/- we received a 'Pull Up Terrain' command from the GPWS. The Captain turned off the autopilot and began the Terrain Escape Maneuver. Within a second or two; the warning went away and we leveled off at 12;000 ft. We told Cascade Approach what happened and our reaction. Then we confirmed with Cascade that we had only descended to 11;000 ft. We related that we were level at that altitude when the GPWS alert occurred. We then confirmed the altimeter setting. We had the ATIS from MFR which was a setting of 30.26 in. The controller told us his altimeter at that time was 30.25 in so we knew we were at the correct assigned altitude. I believe the mountain we were above was Mt McLoughlin which has a peak of 9;397 ft.
A319 flight crew reported receiving a GPWS terrain alert on a night visual approach to MFR.