Emb-145 captain reported they got a low altitude alert from ATC during a visual approach to non-towe...

Attributes
ACN	1566264
Time
Date	201808
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	EMB ERJ 145 ER/LR
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	VFR
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 50 Flight Crew Total 11000 Flight Crew Type 6000
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT

Narrative:

We were cleared direct zzzzz and were going to be doing the visual to runway 28 in ZZZ. We had the beacon and the airport in sight. I thought my first officer (first officer) had cancelled our IFR clearance and we were cleared to do the visual on our own. I started the descent and was maybe around 3000 when ATC said they had a low altitude alert on us. The first officer cancelled our IFR immediately and we were on our own to finish the visual. I am used to the first officer cancelling the flight plan when we had the airport in sight; and I really thought he had cancelled. I was wrong and I should not have started the descent. It was a misunderstanding between us; but I should have double checked that we were cleared before I started the descent. There were no other aircraft involved and there were no other issues with the flight.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: EMB-145 Captain reported they got a low altitude alert from ATC during a visual approach to non-towered airport.

Narrative: We were cleared direct ZZZZZ and were going to be doing the visual to Runway 28 in ZZZ. We had the beacon and the airport in sight. I thought my First Officer (FO) had cancelled our IFR clearance and we were cleared to do the visual on our own. I started the descent and was maybe around 3000 when ATC said they had a low altitude alert on us. The FO cancelled our IFR immediately and we were on our own to finish the visual. I am used to the FO cancelling the flight plan when we had the airport in sight; and I really thought he had cancelled. I was wrong and I should not have started the descent. It was a misunderstanding between us; but I should have double checked that we were cleared before I started the descent. There were no other aircraft involved and there were no other issues with the flight.

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.

Emb-145 captain reported they got a low altitude alert from ATC during a visual approach to non-towered airport.