Just took a flight today with two friends in the school's 172S from CDW -
44N (Sky Acres) for lunch, then on the way back, checked off another item on
my to-do list of cool things to try as a pilot. . .

Climbed out of 44N at a good 800 - 1000 fpm ... gotta love that winter air.
Leveled off at 8,500 feet, heading south. About 1,500 feet I could already
make out the buildings of Manhattan, from over 50 nm away... talk about your
picture perfect day! (Save for the clouds that were obscuring the rapidly
descending sun).

As we passed Dutchess Co, I called up and got flight following, then advised
the controller that I'd be flying south on the east side of the city to the
Verrazano Bridge, then requesting to transition the Class B direct to
Caldwell. He seemed to go along with that plan, and we got a few traffic
calls of Airbusses climbing out of La Guardia as we neared the city. It was
really, really a spectacular view from up there. Simultaneously, I was
watching the lineup of traffic heading into LGA runway 4, while JFK was
running arrivals into 31 (couldn't tell if it was L or R tho). My two
friends were glued to the windows on the right side of the plane as we
cruised south. You could easily see all of the bridges along the Hudson and
East rivers at once, from the Tappan Zee down to the Verrazano, and if you
looked east, you could just about make out the end of Long Island. All of
this, while trying to take in the whole of Manhattan as we slid past with
relative ease, all of the heavies safely below us and turning out well
before crossing our altitude.

The icing on the cake tho came when we got to the Verrazano. I requested
direct CDW and to transition Class B, and was immediately cleared in with a
descent to 6,500 and direct CDW. This put us on a perfect turn to round the
tip of Manhattan directly over the bridge, and then start our way up the
Hudson river side of the city. As I leveled off at 6,500, I noticed the
queue of departures waiting on the taxiway at Newark for 22L. They were
departing at a good pace, probably one every 45 seconds. We were handed over
to "Newark" departure (a term I hadn't heard til today), and I noticed that
that controller was a bit busier. He was still able to handle us very well
though, with just a small vector more northward, which again, put us in an
even better position to view the city from along the Hudson.

A few minutes later we were cleared down to 2,500, and as we descended
through 3,000, radar services were terminated, I contacted CDW, and was
cleared for a straight-in on 27 behind one more arrival. Picture perfect
landing to an absolutely picture perfect flight. I will _definitely_ be
doing this one again!

p.s... when we arrived at CDW around noon today (before the flights), there
were, I kid you not, _12_ planes queued up on the taxiway waiting to depart.
All GA. I've never seen that many GA planes in a line at any airport before.
The tower told all the touch and go traffic to land or go elsewhere for a
while so they could clear out the traffic, but my oh my, I think that gave
me a taste of what to expect if I make it out to Oshkosh this year! :-)

--
Guy Elden Jr.