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Da-40 pilot reported an early descent in IMC led to a low altitude alert.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1615562 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201902 |
| Local Time Of Day | 0601-1200 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.Airport |
| State Reference | US |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | IMC |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | DA40 Diamond Star |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 91 |
| Flight Phase | Landing |
| Route In Use | Vectors |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Single Pilot |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Rotorcraft |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 58 Flight Crew Total 557 Flight Crew Type 417 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Deviation - Altitude Overshoot Deviation - Procedural Clearance Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Other / Unknown Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence |
| Miss Distance | Vertical 500 |
Narrative:
Today I was flying to ZZZ on IFR flight plan. Most of the trip with IMC. As I approached ZZZ I requested ILS 18 and was told to expect this. Due to [another aircraft] ahead of me; I was asked to hold at zzzzz. I performed 2 holding patterns at 4;000 feet before I was cleared for the ILS approach. I was total IMC during this time and the very helpful ATC man told me the [aircraft ahead of me] had busted out at 1;200 feet. I crossed the initial fix I believe at 2;600 (was supposed to be at 3;000 feet) and began descending on the approach. I thought I was behind on the approach due to holding at 4;000 feet; so I descended at 500 feet/min at the same time my garmin 530 that I was tracking; was not working properly due to the multiple hold legs. I was fixing this during the descent as to stay on my heading. I got ahead of the aircraft and then my terrain warning came on and I immediately stopped my descent and went back up to 2;000 feet. I believe I was down to 1;500 feet. Also simultaneously ATC informed me of my low altitude. I stayed at 2;000 feet until the localizer came back in and descended for a landing. I was asked to call [TRACON] once on the ground during this approach while still IMC due to a pilot altitude discrepancy. As I came out of the clouds about 1;000 feet I completed the landing; shut down and called [TRACON] in the ZZZ FBO and further explained the situation.I realize there was more than one issue which led to this mistake. I am the PIC and take responsibility and understand the importance of being in control of my aircraft. The issues that effected my mistake were single pilot IMC; rain; wind; mild turbulence; G530 not responding due to multiple holds; and basically getting ahead of the aircraft and the approach. I have also had issues with my mode C on my transponder in the past and this is being checked [very soon.] this will be something I am more aware of and possibly rethink taking this flight in the future if weather conditions are the same. Thank you for your time.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: DA-40 pilot reported an early descent in IMC led to a low altitude alert.
Narrative: Today I was flying to ZZZ on IFR flight plan. Most of the trip with IMC. As I approached ZZZ I requested ILS 18 and was told to expect this. Due to [another aircraft] ahead of me; I was asked to hold at ZZZZZ. I performed 2 holding patterns at 4;000 feet before I was cleared for the ILS approach. I was total IMC during this time and the very helpful ATC man told me the [aircraft ahead of me] had busted out at 1;200 feet. I crossed the initial fix I believe at 2;600 (was supposed to be at 3;000 feet) and began descending on the approach. I thought I was behind on the approach due to holding at 4;000 feet; so I descended at 500 feet/min at the same time my Garmin 530 that I was tracking; was not working properly due to the multiple hold legs. I was fixing this during the descent as to stay on my heading. I got ahead of the aircraft and then my terrain warning came on and I immediately stopped my descent and went back up to 2;000 feet. I believe I was down to 1;500 feet. Also simultaneously ATC informed me of my low altitude. I stayed at 2;000 feet until the localizer came back in and descended for a landing. I was asked to call [TRACON] once on the ground during this approach while still IMC due to a pilot altitude discrepancy. As I came out of the clouds about 1;000 feet I completed the landing; shut down and called [TRACON] in the ZZZ FBO and further explained the situation.I realize there was more than one issue which led to this mistake. I am the PIC and take responsibility and understand the importance of being in control of my aircraft. The issues that effected my mistake were single pilot IMC; rain; wind; mild turbulence; G530 not responding due to multiple holds; and basically getting ahead of the aircraft and the approach. I have also had issues with my Mode C on my transponder in the past and this is being checked [very soon.] This will be something I am more aware of and possibly rethink taking this flight in the future if weather conditions are the same. Thank you for your 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.