Cessna 210 Centurion / Turbo Centurion 210C; 210D
Flight Crew Private
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 41; Flight Crew Total 617; Flight Crew Type 50
Confusion; Fatigue; Situational Awareness; Training / Qualification
Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT
Air Traffic Control Issued Advisory / Alert; Flight Crew Became Reoriented; Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Human Factors
At the end of the long cross-country training flight for the instrument rating; I had planned the VOR approach to HHR. SoCal Approach however cleared me for the visual approach. I took off the sight-limiting device and turned inbound. Approach asked if we had the airport in sight. This is where the problems started. While I had previously flown into HHR a few times at night; [I] wouldn't call myself overly familiar; my instructor had even less experience with this airport and its visual sight picture at night. HHR can be hard to make out in the sea of light that is Los Angeles. However; there is a kink in a freeway that runs next to it; which helps to visually acquire the field. On the night in question however; ATC had vectored me much further east than I would normally fly visually and I mistook another similar looking kink in the freeway for the one is was looking for.Although not 100% sure I actually 'had' the airport; I started a descent. At about 500 feet this [elicited] a 'low altitude' warning from the Approach Controller who then handed me off to Tower. Incredibly; the same situation happened again; this time with a 'low altitude' warning from Tower until I finally got sight of the airport. Having climbed back to pattern altitude; I was too high for a stabilized approach at this point and elected to go around and land. The subsequent landing was uneventful.I think the problem was caused by a combination of factors. One was a certainly fatigue after having flown several hours 'under the hood'. Second was the unexpected visual approach clearance and the transitioning from flight on instruments to visual flight. Third was the false sense of familiarity (the freeway 'kink') that led me to think I knew where I was. Lesson learned: even on a visual approach; keep flying the instruments. The disorienting moment came after taking off the 'hood' and it went downhill (quite literally) from there. I certainly learned about flying from that.
C210 pilot reported receiving a low altitude alert on approach to HHR on a night visual approach.