JFK TWR ISSUES LOW ALT ALERT AS ACR LEVELS AT PROC ALT FOR VOR RWY 22L.

Narrative

DURING NIGHT OPS WITH HVY RAIN INTO JFK; THE TWR WAS USING THE NON PRECISION VOR/DME APCH TO RWY 22L. ON OUR FIRST ATTEMPT WE DID NOT HAVE THE RWY IN SIGHT IN TIME TO DSND TO A NORMAL; SAFE LNDG SO WE EXECUTED A GAR. RWY 22L HAD NO APCH LIGHTING SYS; NO REIL; AND IN HVY RAIN AND WITH SIGNIFICANT GND LIGHTS IN THE AREA; THE RWY WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO SEE. ADDITIONALLY THE VOR/DME TO RWY 22L IS OFFSET FROM THE RWY. AFTER EXECUTING THE MISSED APCH TWR ASKED IF WE WANTED A 'VISUAL APCH' TO RWY 22L. WE SAID 'NO.' DESPITE RELATIVELY GOOD GND VISIBILITY; VISIBILITY INFLT WITH HVY RAIN HITTING THE WINDSCREEN AT 160 KTS WAS LIMITED. WHEN WE DECLINED THE VISUAL; TWR SAID HE WOULD PUT US AT THE 'END OF THE LINE.' ON THE SECOND APCH WE DSNDED FROM RUSHY TO THE INTERMEDIATE MDA OF 600 FT UNTIL THE 3.0 DME FIX. AT 600 FT; THE TWR CTLR ADVISED US THAT HE HAD A 'LOW ALT ALERT' ON US AND ASKED IF WE HAD THE RWY IN SIGHT. WE ADVISED THE CTLR THAT WE WERE AT 600 FT PER THE PUBLISHED APCH PROC. SHORTLY THEREAFTER WE ADVISED THAT WE HAD THE RWY IN SIGHT; AND LANDED UNEVENTFULLY. OUR CONCERN WAS; WHY THE CTLR HAD AN ALT ALERT ON US WHEN WE WERE ON PROFILE FOR THE APCH AND; WHY A MAJOR INTL ARPT LIKE JFK WOULD BE CONDUCTING NON PRECISION APCHS TO RWYS WITH PUBLISHED PRECISION APCHS (AND ESPECIALLY TO RWYS WITH NO APCH LIGHTS). ALSO; IS THE EFFECT OF RAIN ON COCKPIT VISIBILITY CONSIDERED WHEN DETERMINING ARPT VISIBILITY AND WHICH TYPE OF APCHS TO CONDUCT.