Regional Jet 700 ER/LR (CRJ700)
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Situational Awareness
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Human Factors; Weather
As the First Officer; I was the pilot flying on the River Visual Runway 19 into DCA. Wind was about 14 knots gusting to 30: last call I remember from ATC. I was flying the published approach; centered over the river; and by my estimation was within +- 100 feet of recommended altitudes as depicted. At my request prior to the approach; the Captain set up the approach in the FMS to get a snowflake; however; none was depicted and never got a chance to troubleshoot; (He may not have put the runway in L2). Because of the glare; I couldn't see the VASI for 15; and due to the winds taking most of my attention; [I] didn't get a chance to cross reference with the approach plate. Just prior to initiating the last S turn before final (tall buildings west of the river off of our nose); we received two 'Obstacle caution' aural alerts in quick succession. I feathered the control wheel aft and initiated the left turn continuing over the river. The flight concluded with no further events of note. I assume the predictive monitoring looking at our flight path; combined with the wind gusts maybe causing a momentary descent; triggered the alert however can't be sure as I was focused on flying and didn't have any processed data to cross reference. Suggestions: Perhaps a pre-programmed approach for the River Visual 19 in the FMS would be appropriate to at a minimum populate the recommended points with altitudes along the visual route. Seems to be many different ways pilots like to set up this approach and I believe the Captain's unfamiliarity with setting it up the way I requested (per the reading file item that came out a few months ago; RW19; .3nm; in L2) degraded my Situational awareness and likely contributed to the alert. 30 knot reported winds may also have contributed and perhaps there should be a threshold after which automatically switching to the LDA approach into 19.
CRJ-700 First Officer reported receiving a GPWS Obstacle warning on the River Visual to Runway 19 at DCA.