Cirrus Vision SJ50
Flight Crew Private; Flight Crew Instrument
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 24; Flight Crew Total 782; Flight Crew Type 142
Time Pressure; Situational Awareness
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT
Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Human Factors
Upon descending over the last mountainous area while lining up for a Runway 26 landing at ZZZ; my descent rate was high relative to my distance from the ground causing a SINK RATE alert and a PULL UP alert in the aircraft. At the same time; ATC gave me a low altitude alert and said I was below MDA for the area. I had been cleared down to 9200 feet and then cleared for the visual approach into ZZZ prior to being handed off to tower. I believe it was ZZZ tower that gave me the Low Altitude alert. The approach to final required that I lose a lot of altitude quickly. But I came down a bit too soon relative to the terrain. I was already disengaging the autopilot; applying max thrust and pulling up as ATC gave the low altitude alert.The cause of the problem was the need to lose a lot of altitude in a short distance. I had good visibility and visually I felt I was not at risk. However; I clearly got too low if ATC needed to give me the alert. I appreciated the help from ATC to keep me higher longer. I should have completely cleared the mountain before beginning a quick descent. I failed to take into account the potential for a sudden loss of altitude due to potential mountain waves.
Cirrus Vision Jet pilot reported a CFIT alert from ATC due to starting descent too soon in the high terrain area.