Peter Gottlieb wrote:

Was that his path? Did he come down the Hudson then turn left at the
Harlem river and decide to go down the east side of Manhattan?

He'd left Sky Acres en route to Republic (where he was based) according to
news reports. A logical pilotage route is down the Hudson.

I'm surprised that nobody here has caught one interesting point, so perhaps
it's not as interesting as I'd imagined. He'd been flying for a year and a
half, according to the report, and he was flying a Mooney. I've never
flown a Mooney, but the impression I've had is that these are fairly
"smooth" aircraft. After only 18 months (and assuming mostly "weekend"
flying), is flying such reasonable?

Still, there have been some awful comments in the news. The Post reported
NYC's Deputy something as saying that small aircraft shouldn't be permitted
around his city. The AM news station 1010 reported that the pilot "scared
people by flying around the statue", and didn't mention that scores do it
every day.

Sheesh.

As much as aiming ire at the pilot may feel good, I've a feeling we might
need to do something to avoid having NYC turn as friendly to aviation as
Chicago. There's no airport to close, but this is still worrisome.

- Andrew