A PA-32R pilot reported misreading the chart and descending to 200 ft AGL in the pattern at T31.

Attributes
ACN	1008529
Time
Date	201205
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	T31.Airport
State Reference	TX
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	PA-32 Cherokee Six/Lance/Saratoga/6X
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Commercial
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 15 Flight Crew Total 1825 Flight Crew Type 1275
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural FAR Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT

Narrative:

On approach to landing on runway 17 at T31 (aero country airport); I misread my chart for the traffic pattern altitude. Instead of approaching at an altitude of 1;600 MSL; my altitude was 1;000 MSL; putting me only 200 ft above the ground and surrounding homes. [This was] a mistake that will not happen again. A more thorough pre-brief will prevent this from occurring in the future.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A PA-32R pilot reported misreading the chart and descending to 200 FT AGL in the pattern at T31.

Narrative: On approach to landing on Runway 17 at T31 (Aero Country Airport); I misread my chart for the Traffic Pattern Altitude. Instead of approaching at an altitude of 1;600 MSL; my altitude was 1;000 MSL; putting me only 200 FT above the ground and surrounding homes. [This was] a mistake that will not happen again. A more thorough pre-brief will prevent this from occurring in the future.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 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.