B767 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Situational Awareness
Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT
Air Traffic Control Issued Advisory / Alert; Flight Crew Became Reoriented; Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Human Factors; Procedure
We were cleared for the VOR 13L and [I] was PF. At the MDA of 800 feet I disconnected the autopilot and executed a descending right turn to line up with runway 13L. We were following the lead in lights with no vertical guidance at this point. As I was lining up on the runway the FO stated 'you're low' just as ATC told us they had a low altitude alert and to level off. I leveled off at about 500 feet while continuing the line up with the runway. We did not receive any GPWS alerts and continued the approach and landing without further incident. No phone numbers were given and we were not requested to call anyone upon landing. Tower did not say anything further was the correction was made.The VOR 13L has a 90 degree turn to land at the MDA. There is no vertical guidance and it can be quite challenging to make sure you are lining up on the proper runway at night in a descending right turn. Lead-in lights work fine for lateral guidance but unless someone is familiar with the airport it presents a challenging approach to land in the last 800 feet.
B767 Captain reported JFK Tower issued a low altitude alert on a VOR approach to Runway 13L.