Narrative:

Flying the VOR 13L (canarsie) approach with a broken layer of clouds at minimums and unrestricted visibility below the cloud deck. Previously built and briefed approach with a dda. Approaching dda we had the lead in lights in sight. Levelling at dda we were still in the bottom of the cloud deck; however; the lead in lights were in sight. Started down with a slight descent after dda. At this point; I had all lead in lights and the end of the runway in sight but could see I was a bit low. I levelled off slightly above 500 feet. Tower issued a low altitude alert. There were no aircraft alerts. We were completely visual at this time and had the entire approach area and runway in sight. Flew the remainder of the approach level at that altitude until intercepting a visual glide path to landing. After the tower alert; there were no other issues and the successful outcome was never in doubt.I should have waited until my planned descent point which was over the second set of lead in lights. There was a slight tailwind on the approach and a low cloud deck which gave the impression that I should start down a bit earlier than planned. This was simply a miscalculation on my part and I am fully aware that I should have flown the approach level at the dda until intercepting my visual glide path. A help would be to add some tips to the 10-1 chart. The approach chart shows the map point as being 3.6 miles to the end of the runway; however; the visual portion of this approach is on an arc so the distance is quite a bit longer than that. In any event; lesson learned on my part and I will be more vigilant next time.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B767-300 Captain reported descending below charted altitude on the VOR Runway 13L Approach to JFK resulting in a low altitude alert from the Tower.

Narrative: Flying the VOR 13L (Canarsie) approach with a broken layer of clouds at minimums and unrestricted visibility below the cloud deck. Previously built and briefed approach with a DDA. Approaching DDA we had the lead in lights in sight. Levelling at DDA we were still in the bottom of the cloud deck; however; the lead in lights were in sight. Started down with a slight descent after DDA. At this point; I had all lead in lights and the end of the runway in sight but could see I was a bit low. I levelled off slightly above 500 feet. Tower issued a low altitude alert. There were no aircraft alerts. We were completely visual at this time and had the entire approach area and runway in sight. Flew the remainder of the approach level at that altitude until intercepting a visual glide path to landing. After the tower alert; there were no other issues and the successful outcome was never in doubt.I should have waited until my planned descent point which was over the second set of lead in lights. There was a slight tailwind on the approach and a low cloud deck which gave the impression that I should start down a bit earlier than planned. This was simply a miscalculation on my part and I am fully aware that I should have flown the approach level at the DDA until intercepting my visual glide path. A help would be to add some tips to the 10-1 chart. The approach chart shows the MAP point as being 3.6 miles to the end of the runway; however; the visual portion of this approach is on an arc so the distance is quite a bit longer than that. In any event; lesson learned on my part and I will be more vigilant next time.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.