Aviation Stories - Paul Pakusch FLYING THROUGH NEW YORK CITY'S VFR CORRIDOR (Note: This was written in 1997. The federal regulations about flying through New York City have changed significantly since then. Please familiarize yourself with them before attempting any such flight.) When I got the idea to try flying the New York City VFR Corridor, the first thing I did was call AOPA to find out whether an upstate New Yorker who had never flown around New York City was crazy for wanting to try it. The man I spoke to was very encouraging; he had flown it himself. He gave me some tips and also suggested flying it at night, when the lights are truly spectacular. To fly the NYC VFR Corridor, you need a New York Terminal Area Chart to see land features. The corridor is basically the Hudson River, although for an additional challenge, you could also fly along the East River (I did not). If you look at the chart, you'll see that New York Class B airspace covers a very wide area. The floor of the airspace over the Hudson River changes frequently, with the lowest point being 1100 feet if you stay east of the Statue of Liberty. West of the Statue, it's 500 feet. AOPA advised me to stay away from the Statue of Liberty because of helicopter sight-seeing traffic. Flying the corridor is just like driving on a highway: Stay on the right side of the Hudson River, away from the shore, where there are helicopter routes. I tried to keep myself exactly halfway between the "centerline" of the river and the shore. GA traffic in the opposite direction should pass you on your left. I flew there in June, 1997 on a clear, sunny day in a Piper Archer. I chose a route that would take me from Rochester, NY to Newburgh, where I could get myself established on the Hudson River before reaching Class B airspace. I gave myself an option along the Hudson to use as a "chicken out" checkpoint. It was the bridge at Nyack; if I didn't feel comfortable continuing the corridor, I could make a right turn there and head directly to the Sparta VOR. I had VFR flight following. This surprisingly turned out to be one of the most pleasant parts of the whole experience. As I got closer to NYC and was handed off from one controller to the next, I found that I truly enjoyed talking to the controllers. I lost track of how many times I changed frequencies, but I found all of them to be courteous to this VFR Archer pilot. One of them even asked me to help him test my signal reception of his transmitter on an alternate frequency. The experience of talking to these controllers encouraged me to use VFR flight following more freqently, and it was a big factor in deciding to start my IFR training a few months later. One disappointment, though, was that I had hoped to continue VFR flight following through the VFR Corridor. The last guy cut me loose just before I reached the Tappan Zee Bridge. This is the point where, on the Terminal Chart, you'll see there is a frequency to use to announce your position in the Corridor. I tuned to this frequency and announced that I was southbound on the Hudson, crossing the Tappan Zee Bridge. I flew at 900 feet to give me a 200-foot margin below the Class B airspace. The towers of the bridges seemed to be just outside the windows! The New York skyline quickly came into view, with the twin towers of the World Trade Center forming a focal point. For both traffic-spotting and sight-seeing purposes, there's no reason to speed through the corridor. I flew at about 75-80 knots in an Archer. Photographs and videotapes cannot do justice to seeing New York City from over the Hudson River at 900 feet. The panoramic view is truly breath-taking! The tops of many of the buildings are above your altitude. LaGuardia, Kennedy and Newark Airports are all visible. Aside from airline traffic at higher altitudes, I did not see much traffic that would affect me. I saw one helicopter cross my path a good distance in front of me, and I saw a twin-engine turbo-prop pass on my left in the opposite direction. I had planned two options when I reached the end of the corridor, where the Hudson River empties into the bay: One was to circle around and head north again; the other was to cross the bay direct to Colts Neck VOR in New Jersey. I chose to cross the bay. In both cases, I had a route planned to take me to Pocono Mountains airport so I could check it out for a future trip. Crossing the bay at below 1500 feet, it occurred to me that if the engine were to quit, I did not have a life jacket with me. The bay was larger than I realized it would be. There were plenty of boats that day, so I figured I'd glide to a water landing near one of them if necessary. Now I was in the area where I really had to watch for traffic! There are many GA airports in New Jersey and many airplanes that go with them. You'll see on the Terminal chart that there are also jet feeder routes to the big New York airports. I made my stop at Pocono Mountains airport and flew home. Total flight time was just over five hours. (Note: This was written in 1997. The federal regulations about flying through New York City have changed significantly since then. Please familiarize yourself with them before attempting any such flight.)