Dash 8-100
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Situational Awareness
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT
Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Human Factors
On a visual approach into the uncontrolled airport; I as pilot flying was distracted and descended lower than intended. I was alerted to this by the sounding of the EGPWS warning 'Too Low; Gear;' at which time I observed we were around 600 FT MSL and not close enough to the runway for that altitude. Both pilots happened to be looking outside at the time and did not notice the error until the EGPWS warning was heard. I immediately initiated a climb to around 1;000 FT and; turning final; intercepted the visual glidepath and flew the aircraft to a normal landing. I believe the reason for the distraction was the act of pointing out something on the ground to the First Officer; which were both a bad idea and a violation of sterile cockpit. The situation could easily have been avoided by following SOP's.
DASH 8-100 Captain reports descending too low during a visual approach and receiving a 'Too Low; Gear' EGPWS warning and climbing up to 1;000 FT from about 600 FT.