Today we flew the Hudson River scenic flight. In the plane was my instructor and future co-pilot Matt. We have been wanting to take a flight with my CFI through the Hudson for a while. If you are unfamiliar with the area there was a recent mid-air that caused a change in the rules for the Class B exclusion corridor. We wanted to see how an old salt handles the airspace before we tried it ourselves.
The exclusion zone is basically an area over the Hudson where they raised the floor of the NY Bravo. They did it to accommodate transient and sightseeing aircraft without necessity of being cleared into the congested airspace above. The new rules essentially raised this airspace by 300ft and now requires mandatory reporting points. You are also required to carry a NY Terminal Area Chart. To learn all of the details I highly recommend checking out the FAA NYC Course.
We departed Caldwell around 10AM. The sky was clear but fairly bumpy with crosswinds on the departure and landing. As soon as leaving the traffic pattern we contacted Teterboro KTEB tower to transit straight across to the Hudson. Fortunately they were not to busy and allowed the transition at 1,100. We then made a right turn into the Hudson and maintained 1,100. The rest of the flight was just as described in the special rules. We did drop down for a counter clockwise turn around the Statue of Liberty. After heading back north we continued to Alpine tower and shot back in for Caldwell. The actual flight was pretty straightforward and uneventful but very fun and the views were excellent. I highly recommend it.
Matt was able to take plenty of pictures during the entire flight so check them out below.
