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C206 pilot reported he was alerted by ATC that he was descending below charted altitude on an IFR approach to bed.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1358087 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201605 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1801-2400 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | BED.Airport |
| State Reference | MA |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | IMC |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Cessna Stationair/Turbo Stationair 6 |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 91 |
| Flight Phase | Final Approach |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Pilot Flying Single Pilot |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Instrument |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 15 Flight Crew Total 810 Flight Crew Type 30 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT |
Narrative:
Low time instrument pilot descended below minimum altitude for approach segment; also off course during approach.the approach started with numerous vectors for traffic which put me on a long; well-stabilized approach starting at 3000 feet well outside the FAF. Once established; ATC requested max forward speed; and since things were going pretty well; I offered 130 knots; which was the first serious error. Normally I use 90 knots and have never used anything above 120 on an instrument approach. Concerned that I would be high I managed to build up quite a vertical and forward speed; which helped lead to confusion about position relative to the FAF; jopvu. Thinking I was just past jopvu when in fact I was just short; less than 2 miles; of jopvu I descended to 900 feet MSL; just above the minimum published once past jopvu of 880 feet. The tower controller issued an altitude alert and I climbed back to 1000 feet; belatedly realizing my error; just crossing jopvu. Once past jopvu and for unknown reasons; the controller continued issuing altitude alerts (maybe because he thought I was flying some other approach?) which was a distraction and contributed to task saturation and a brief lateral deviation right of course which ought to have initiated going missed; but did not; which the controller also alerted upon. The remainder of the approach was unremarkable.human factors: overconfidence; social pressure (to help out ATC; lots of traffic); task saturation; low actual instrument time. Failure to initiate missed. Prioritizing execution.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: C206 pilot reported he was alerted by ATC that he was descending below charted altitude on an IFR approach to BED.
Narrative: Low time instrument pilot descended below minimum altitude for approach segment; also off course during approach.The approach started with numerous vectors for traffic which put me on a long; well-stabilized approach starting at 3000 feet well outside the FAF. Once established; ATC requested max forward speed; and since things were going pretty well; I offered 130 knots; which was the first serious error. Normally I use 90 knots and have never used anything above 120 on an instrument approach. Concerned that I would be high I managed to build up quite a vertical and forward speed; which helped lead to confusion about position relative to the FAF; JOPVU. Thinking I was just past JOPVU when in fact I was just short; less than 2 miles; of JOPVU I descended to 900 feet MSL; just above the minimum published once past JOPVU of 880 feet. The tower controller issued an altitude alert and I climbed back to 1000 feet; belatedly realizing my error; just crossing JOPVU. Once past JOPVU and for unknown reasons; the controller continued issuing altitude alerts (maybe because he thought I was flying some other approach?) which was a distraction and contributed to task saturation and a brief lateral deviation right of course which ought to have initiated going missed; but did not; which the controller also alerted upon. The remainder of the approach was unremarkable.Human Factors: Overconfidence; social pressure (to help out ATC; lots of traffic); task saturation; low actual instrument time. Failure to initiate missed. Prioritizing execution.
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.