flying around niagara falls

Hi all,

I'm going to be in KBUF this weekend, and was contemplating
giving my passengers a brief aerial tour of the Falls.
Are there any special considerations? I'm new to that area,
so a word of experience would be very welcome! Thanks!!



Andrey

On 14 Jun 2007 16:09:49 GMT, Andrey Serbinenko wrote in
:

I'm going to be in KBUF this weekend, and was contemplating
giving my passengers a brief aerial tour of the Falls.
Are there any special considerations? I'm new to that area,
so a word of experience would be very welcome! Thanks!!

I was along for the ride in a 172 a few years back.

There are special procedures in place due to commercial
sight-seeing flights (mostly helis, I think) that fly
all day long. There also was a tethered hot-air balloon
in Niagara Falls, NY, in previous years. I don't know
whether they're still in operation.

Here is a page describing the general flight restrictions
over the Falls:

http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/11feb20051500/edocket.access.gpo.gov/cfr_2005/janqtr/pdf/14cfr93.81.pdf

http://tinyurl.com/2cdzs9

A brief report from a fellow who has done the trip
three times:

http://www.landings.com/_landings/sp...ara-falls.html

That should give you some ideas.

Marty
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Martin X. Moleski, SJ wrote:


Here is a page describing the general flight restrictions
over the Falls:

http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/11feb20051500/edocket.access.gpo.gov/cfr_2005/janqtr/pdf/14cfr93.81.pdf

http://tinyurl.com/2cdzs9



The AF/D that includes NY has lots of info, and a diagram in the
"Special Notices" section.

"Martin X. Moleski, SJ" wrote:

There are special procedures in place due to commercial
sight-seeing flights (mostly helis, I think) that fly
all day long. There also was a tethered hot-air balloon
in Niagara Falls, NY, in previous years. I don't know
whether they're still in operation.

Both the helis and the balloon are still very evident.

On 14 Jun 2007 16:09:49 GMT, Andrey Serbinenko wrote in
:

I'm going to be in KBUF this weekend, and was contemplating
giving my passengers a brief aerial tour of the Falls.
Are there any special considerations? I'm new to that area,
so a word of experience would be very welcome! Thanks!!

DOH!

I forgot that this topic has come up in this group before.

http://groups.google.com/groups?as_q=&num=10&scoring=r&hl=en&as_epq=&as_oq= &as_eq=&as_ugroup=rec.aviation.piloting&as_usubjec t=niagara+falls&as_uauthors=&lr=&as_drrb=q&as_qdr= &as_mind=1&as_minm=1&as_miny=1981&as_maxd=14&as_ma xm=6&as_maxy=2007&safe=off

http://tinyurl.com/2h5oke

Marty
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Thank you, guys! That's very helpful!!

Andrey


Martin X. Moleski, SJ wrote:
On 14 Jun 2007 16:09:49 GMT, Andrey Serbinenko wrote in
:

I'm going to be in KBUF this weekend, and was contemplating
giving my passengers a brief aerial tour of the Falls.
Are there any special considerations? I'm new to that area,
so a word of experience would be very welcome! Thanks!!

DOH!

I forgot that this topic has come up in this group before.

http://groups.google.com/groups?as_q=&num=10&scoring=r&hl=en&as_epq=&as_oq= &as_eq=&as_ugroup=rec.aviation.piloting&as_usubjec t=niagara+falls&as_uauthors=&lr=&as_drrb=q&as_qdr= &as_mind=1&as_minm=1&as_miny=1981&as_maxd=14&as_ma xm=6&as_maxy=2007&safe=off

http://tinyurl.com/2h5oke

Marty

Andrey Serbinenko wrote:
Hi all,

I'm going to be in KBUF this weekend, and was contemplating
giving my passengers a brief aerial tour of the Falls.
Are there any special considerations?

Yes, there are, but I haven't been there in several years and they may
have changed. I strongly advise you to check with AOPA or phone KBUF
for info about altitudes, directions, etc.

Enjoy! vince norris

The last time I flew around the Falls, I had to fly a racetrack hold
pattern at 3500 ft. Which was a hornets nest of helicopters at the
same altitude.
We could not see anything -too high, and were terrified by the
conjestion. If I were you, I'd get a cab or rental and drive out to
see the falls, which are really awesome up close.

Enjoy!

George Graham


On Jun 14, 12:09 pm, Andrey Serbinenko
wrote:
Hi all,

I'm going to be in KBUF this weekend, and was contemplating
giving my passengers a brief aerial tour of the Falls.
Are there any special considerations? I'm new to that area,
so a word of experience would be very welcome! Thanks!!

Andrey

In a previous article, George Graham said:
The last time I flew around the Falls, I had to fly a racetrack hold
pattern at 3500 ft. Which was a hornets nest of helicopters at the
same altitude.
We could not see anything -too high, and were terrified by the
conjestion. If I were you, I'd get a cab or rental and drive out to
see the falls, which are really awesome up close.

I've flown the falls many times since it's barely 50nm from here. The
helicopters stay below 3500 feet - that's the entire point of the altitude
restriction for the non-pros. And the most I've ever seen at my altitude
were two other bug smashers, and once a jet did a much bigger race track
a few thousand feet above my head.


--
Paul Tomblin http://blog.xcski.com/
I told $VERY_BIG_CLIENT that sure, we can do $THING_THAT_VIOLATES_CAUSALITY
by Tuesday. You can do that, right?
-- Things that a developer or sysadmin dreads hearing, #235

On Sun, 17 Jun 2007 18:53:31 -0700, George Graham wrote in
om:

The last time I flew around the Falls, I had to fly a racetrack hold
pattern at 3500 ft. Which was a hornets nest of helicopters at the
same altitude.

We could not see anything -too high, and were terrified by the
congestion. ...

My friend flew me over the Falls at that altitude. I enjoyed
the view very much.

Making two or three circuits would have been better than just one
pass if you have the time. It can take a little while to take
in the view, especially if you're fumbling with a camera at the
same time.

Marty
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