CE750 first officer reports being cleared down to 2;000 feet during approach to mmu resulting in a t...

Attributes
ACN	1173546
Time
Date	201405
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	MMU.Airport
State Reference	NJ
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Citation X (C750)
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	Direct Visual Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 85 Flight Crew Total 4000 Flight Crew Type 2250
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Altitude Overshoot Deviation - Procedural Clearance Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT

Narrative:

New york approach cleared us down to 2;000 feet from 4;000 feet on arrival into mmu. Both pilots heard ATC instruct us to descend to 2;000 feet; and confirmed the altitude in the altitude selector. Passing through 2;500 feet we received a terrain advisory and stopped the descent when we were also queried by ATC. We immediately climbed back up to 3;000 feet and continued the approach in mmu. After the flight we talked about the event as a crew. We have done this arrival many times with new york approach and believe the previous controller had cleared us down to 2;000 feet too early; since that is an altitude they frequently assign us on the arrival; and there may have been a controller change which added to the confusion.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: CE750 First Officer reports being cleared down to 2;000 feet during approach to MMU resulting in a terrain warning and a low altitude alert from ATC. A climb to 3;000 feet is initiated and the approach is continued.

Narrative: New York Approach cleared us down to 2;000 feet from 4;000 feet on arrival into MMU. Both pilots heard ATC instruct us to descend to 2;000 feet; and confirmed the altitude in the altitude selector. Passing through 2;500 feet we received a terrain advisory and stopped the descent when we were also queried by ATC. We immediately climbed back up to 3;000 feet and continued the approach in MMU. After the flight we talked about the event as a crew. We have done this arrival many times with New York Approach and believe the previous controller had cleared us down to 2;000 feet too early; since that is an altitude they frequently assign us on the arrival; and there may have been a controller change which added to the confusion.

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.

CE750 first officer reports being cleared down to 2;000 feet during approach to mmu resulting in a terrain warning and a low altitude alert from ATC. A climb to 3;000 feet is initiated and the approach is continued.