"Liberty Enlightening the World"

Back To the Big Apple

Flying the Manhattan Skyline is such a popular event for the Williamson Flying Club that it has become an expected annual activity. For 2022, we had four airplanes slated to make the flight. I was to fly Warrior 481 with student pilot Paul and his wife, Lisa; Ed would take Archer Four Four Papa with student members Catelyn and Steve; Scott would fly One Delta Tango with his wife, Kim; and Simon would fly a Cirrus SR-20 from the Rochester Air Center with a friend. Ed and I had flown the route multiple times before. Scott flew it with me and another club pilot previously, but had never flown the route himself. It would be a completely novel experience for everyone else.

Our plan was to stop at Orange County Airport (MGJ) for a quick break, fly the Skyline Route (the procedure through the New York Bravo airspace above the uncontrolled Hudson River Exclusion), round the southern tip of Manhattan, fly north along the East River (permission required), then transition across Central Park back to the Hudson River and depart the area to the north. By choosing the Skyline procedure, we would have access to the East River that is otherwise off limits to transient fixed wing traffic.

A focus of this year's planning was a result of the 2021 trip when only two of the three participating aircraft received clearance into Bravo airspace. The odd man out was forced to dive into the Exclusion and scramble for the advisory frequency and mandatory waypoints, which seriously detracted from any fun he might have had otherwise. For this year, I climbed up on my soapbox and insisted that all pilots have Plan B ready to go: that they take the FAA course on navigating the uncontrolled Hudson River Exclusion and have the procedure immediately at hand. The FAA distributes an excellent one-page summary of the procedure that I suggested everyone have available. I have carried the same battered copy of this summary with me every year we made the trip as a club.

The other sticking point with the Skyline Route is that pilots southbound along the Hudson are instructed to contact a dedicated LaGuardia Tower frequency for clearance into the Bravo airspace. Every year, LaGuardia plays chicken with the clearance, issuing it only at the very last moment while the airplane is already nose-deep into the invisible segment of airspace. This has always struck me as counterproductive for all parties involved and, as a pilot, is the most stressful portion of the entire venture.

I wondered if there was a way to streamline that. Flight following, maybe?

Going Around

Date	Aircraft	Route of Flight	Time (hrs)	Total (hrs)
20 Aug 2023	N21481	SDC (Sodus, NY) - MGJ (Montgomery, NY) - 44N (Millbrook, NY) - 0G7 (Seneca Falls, NY) - SDC	5.6	2522.2

We departed from the Williamson Sodus Airport on an absolutely beautiful morning with crisp air and impressive visibility. Unfortunately, Scott had to drop out due to illness. This left us with eight people in three airplanes to make the trip.

It was a pleasure to get to know Paul and Lisa. They were fun to have along and, as a student, Paul asked a lot of good questions while we flew downstate. Lisa proved to have a sharp eye for finding aircraft flying near us.

On previous visits to Orange County, we have witnessed some questionable acts of aviation committed by local flight students flying Diamond trainers. This year, I extended my downwind pattern leg significantly to follow a Diamond on an unnecessary three mile final. Even though I allowed plenty of space between us and slowed way down on final approach, the student dawdled on the runway after landing and forced me to abort the landing.

New Plan

During the stop at Orange County, Simon asked Ed if we would contact New York Approach for radar services on departure. When Ed turned the question around to me, it connected with the stray thought I had previously about trying to smooth out that stressful transition with LaGuardia Tower. As we discussed it, we decided in the moment that it might just be the cure for the last minute scramble with LaGuardia that always occurs right at the airspace boundary.

We also agreed that I would go first as a test case so that everyone else could react to how the ATC communications went for me. This was fine, but the Cirrus Simon was flying was significantly faster than Warrior 481 and he would need to watch his speed carefully.

We established our flight order on the ground at Orange County. Paul, Lisa, and I would be first in Warrior 481 with Simon and his friend Scott following in the Cirrus and Ed third in line with his Archer.

The Secret Sauce

Once off Orange County, we each contacted New York Approach for flight following and explained that we wanted to fly the Skyline Route southbound at 2,000 feet. We were immediately assigned discrete squawk codes and cleared into the New York Bravo about seventeen miles north-northwest of the airspace. When we reached the Alpine Tower -- the physical landmark standing at the Bravo airspace boundary -- it was just a simple matter of switching frequencies to LaGuardia. All the important stuff was already complete.

It was without a doubt the most stress-free entry into the Skyline Route that any of us had ever experienced. In hindsight, this was an obvious solution to the problem. Because the official written Skyline Route procedure does not include New York Approach at all, it simply did not occur to any of us to try until that impromptu planning session at Orange County.

ForeFlight image of our three aircraft about three miles from entering the New York Bravo.

A Visit with Lady Liberty

For me, the southbound run down the Hudson always seems to pass very quickly. Maybe that is because my brain in still spooling up to New York Air Traffic Controller communication speeds or maybe it is just the proliferation of traffic that seems to be everywhere. Simon was close enough on my tail that he triggered multiple traffic alerts from ForeFlight.

The day was a bit hazy and I took fewer pictures than I have in the past. For more pictures on a prettier day, I recommend checking out "These Vagabond Wings Are Longing To Stray" and "The Bear Is Beguiled by the Big Apple Bravo" from 2019 and 2020, respectively.

Clearly, anyone willing to fly through this airspace must be feeling a bit Intrepid. Get it?

Before passing the Empire State Building, LaGuardia handed us off to Newark Tower. I made the request for the East River with a Central Park transition and also clarified that I was with the two aircraft following closely behind.

Lower Manhattan always looks to me like it should sink into the water from the sheer weight of all of those buildings.

"Cherokee Four Eight One, would your flight of three like to circle the Statue of Liberty before turning up the East River?" queried Newark Tower.

I answered in the affirmative and Newark descended all three of us from 2,000 feet to 1,500 feet. He cleared us to circle with a caution to me not to make it so tight that I ran into Ed. As we circled, a fourth aircraft joined the loop, but then Newark shut another aircraft out with a similar request.

"Stay at your current altitude, I got four guys circling the statue right now," Newark instructed the new arrival. I was delighted by the fact that Newark not only invited us to circle in the airspace, but that they protected us from further intrusion by other aircraft until we were done.

It was wonderful to finally see the Statue of Liberty up close from the front. I have too many pictures of just her backside from previous trips.

From our perspective, we could see where the statue's pedestal rested atop former Fort Wood, a star fort originally constructed in 1807 to defend New York harbor from attack.

Wow! What a view! And, also, wow, that's a lot of copper!

I captured a quick screenshot of the traffic display taken as we circled the statue. Simon was right on my tail in One Romeo Tango and Ed was in Four Four Papa. Once I completed a full 360° turn around the statue, I saw Ed's Archer to the north banking directly in front of One World Trade Center. It was an amazing scene, but only captured in my memory.

Business as Usual

After circling the statue, we proceeded northbound along the East River at 1,500 feet with a handoff back to LaGuardia. 

LaGuardia asked for our next destination (Sky Acres at 44N) for flight following purposes. All of the New York area controllers were incredibly accommodating that morning. Frankly, they usually are!

The Empire State Building is no longer the tallest building in New York City, but it is distinctly different from its more modern glass and steel rivals.

LaGuardia called helicopter traffic to us as we crossed Central Park, but we all had each other in sight and the transition back to the Hudson River went smoothly.

Everything's Zen

I always sense a slight decrease in my alert level after crossing the Governor Mario Cuomo Bridge (which is still called the Tappan Zee on the FAA charts) to the north where the traffic density diminishes rapidly. Not that I stop paying attention, but my senses are no longer at DEFCON 1. 

Still, you never know what you're going to see. Steve captured a picture of two twin-tailed fighter jets passing us on the right from Ed's airplane. F-18 perhaps?

Northbound along the Hudson en route to Sky Acres.

An odd structure caught my eye. Research after the fact revealed that it was the Chaung Yen Monastery operated by BAUS, the Buddhist Association of the United States. Located on 200 acres in Putnam County, New York, the facility is famous for housing the largest Buddha statue in the western hemisphere.

Spicy Chicken Conspiracy

By now, Hangars Cafe ("where everyone gets the window seat") is a favorite and comfortable destination for me and Ed, but it was new to everyone else who remarked on the unique way that the airport was terraced on the side of a hill.

Catelyn, Ed, Simon, Scott, Steve, me, Paul, and Lisa. Photo by Simon's friend Ross.

When the doors of Simon's Cirrus popped open, he and his friend Scott were whooping with excitement. "Wow! That was amazing!" It was Simon's first flight in congested airspace and Scott's first ever exposure to any kind of light aircraft. Both were absolutely stunned by what we had just done. As students, I think the experience inspired Catelyn, Paul, and Steve as well.

Through an unspoken consensus, half the group ordered the spicy chicken sandwich. It was extremely messy, which is almost always a reliable indicator of deliciousness.

Ed fueling Four Four Papa.

As we fueled the airplanes for a return flight, a storm was visibly approaching from the southwest. We managed to slip away before it encroached too closely on Sky Acres.

Warrior 481 waiting for fuel at the former dairy farm turned airport.

Simon fueling the RAC Cirrus SR-20.

Visual Storm Avoidance

A nicely tiled field east of the Catskill Mountains.

We flew the return flight at 6,500 feet, just below the overcast, but well positioned to visually avoid various isolated thunderstorm cells popping up all along the route.

Paul got an early lesson on visually clearing thunderstorms. At one point, he spotted lighting in one of the rain shafts we circumnavigated.

As we approached Sodus, a thunderstorm cell blew up directly over the airport. We diverted to Finger Lakes Regional in Seneca Falls to let it move off elsewhere.

We were taken by this beautiful amphibious Husky.

After several minutes of ogling the seaplane, radar showed that the storm was no longer deluging Sodus and we made the short hop back home. Interestingly, the storm had not moved elsewhere. It had simply blown up right over the airport, soaked the immediate vicinity, and blew itself out. The weather was so localized that it was not until we were within two or three miles of the airport that we observed wet fields and streets.

After landing, Paul was kind enough to assist with the post-landing bug clean-up before we parted company. It was great to have him and Lisa along for the ride. Overall, I was really pleased that we were able to introduce so many new people to this unique experience in one trip.

Highlights

While the day was a bit hazy for photographs and the run through the Skyline Route was hardly novel for me, this trip stands out for two reasons. First was our idea to use flight following with New York Approach to streamline entry to the Skyline Route. Because we did this, it was the least stressful airspace entry that we have ever made. The second highlight, of course, was the invitation to circle the Statue of Liberty while Newark Tower protected the airspace around us. That was simply amazing. It was the kind of day where everything seemed to go exactly as it should.