Night Cross-Country Flight Ends in Wooded Area Near Destination Airport (N60BT)

Flight Operations and Weather Conditions The pilot departed on a night cross-country flight without obtaining a weather briefing or filing a flight plan. Upon arriving in the area of the destination airport, the reported weather conditions included 2 statute miles of visibility and mist, with an overcast cloud layer at 100 feet. The pilot requested an instrument flight rules clearance from the approach controller and was vectored and cleared for the ILS 24 approach. The clearance included an altitude restriction of 1,500 feet MSL until the airplane was established on the localizer. As the pilot contacted the control tower, the tower controller issued a low altitude alert. The pilot responded that he was climbing, and the tower controller cleared the pilot to land, which the pilot acknowledged. No further pertinent radio transmissions were received from the airplane. The aircraft came to rest in a wooded area approximately 3/4 mile from the runway threshold and about 50 feet right of the extended centerline. ## Approach Data and Pilot Experience Review of the approach plate for the ILS 24 approach indicated that the minimum glide slope intercept altitude at the beginning of the final approach segment on the precision approach was 1,500 feet. The glide slope altitude at the final approach fix for the non-precision approach, located about 4 miles from the approach end of the runway, was 1,407 feet. The glide slope altitude at the middle marker, located about 0.6 miles from the approach end of the runway, was 299 feet. Radar data showed the airplane was observed at 700 feet, about 4 miles from the airport, and at 300 feet, about 1.5 miles from the airport. The pilot had accumulated about 1,946 hours of total flight experience, with about 252 hours in the make and model. The pilot had attended initial and recurrent training for the make and model airplane but did not complete the training.