SR22 pilot reported descending too low over terrain on approach for landing.

Narrative:

I was cleared for the visual approach runway 21 into ZZZ airport. After frequency change to tower I was cleared for a straight in; subsequently I aligned myself on the extended runway centerline and started my descent in skc VMC (sky clear visual meteorological conditions) conditions. When flying over the mountains lying under the straight in approach; I realized that I was approaching too low over the mountains and reduced my descent rate. Nevertheless the tower controller alerted me with an altitude warning. I continued the approach after passing the mountains and landed uneventfully on runway 21.my analysis of the situation led to the conclusion; that while for a standard instrument approach I brief the lateral and vertical flight path according to the approach plate; this visual approach has none; as it is true with most visual approaches. Nevertheless on this specific approach it would help to have an altitude and waypoint over the mountains that helps to plan the approach better than just with the means of the visual assessment. I for myself will determine a minimum altitude and an appropriate waypoint to avoid this situation in the future and stay high enough on the profile.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: SR22 pilot reported descending too low over terrain on approach for landing.

Narrative: I was cleared for the visual approach Runway 21 into ZZZ airport. After frequency change to Tower I was cleared for a straight in; subsequently I aligned myself on the extended runway centerline and started my descent in SKC VMC (Sky Clear Visual Meteorological Conditions) conditions. When flying over the mountains lying under the straight in approach; I realized that I was approaching too low over the mountains and reduced my descent rate. Nevertheless the Tower Controller alerted me with an altitude warning. I continued the approach after passing the mountains and landed uneventfully on Runway 21.My analysis of the situation led to the conclusion; that while for a standard instrument approach I brief the lateral and vertical flight path according to the approach plate; this visual approach has none; as it is true with most visual approaches. Nevertheless on this specific approach it would help to have an altitude and waypoint over the mountains that helps to plan the approach better than just with the means of the visual assessment. I for myself will determine a minimum altitude and an appropriate waypoint to avoid this situation in the future and stay high enough on the profile.

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.

Attributes
ACN	1649293
Time
Date	201905
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	SR22
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Private
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 13 Flight Crew Total 265 Flight Crew Type 9
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT