A week’s VFR flying holiday in North East USA – Part 3 of 5 – New York Skyline, Bar Harbor

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Tuesday May 12 – Washout

We’d planned to fly the New York Skyline route the following day, and had been watching the weather forecast which varied with every update. We made a late start and had a very enjoyable breakfast at Gilchrist’s on the old harbour front before checking out and heading off to the airport.

Gilchrist
View of old harbour from Gilchrist Restaurant at Breakfast

We prepared to go, planning and preflighting, calling the phone briefer and packing everything up. The FAA offers a free briefing service to pilots where you can talk directly to an expert on their 1-800-WXBRIEF number. There’s also an easy to use online service DUATS, again open to all pilots free of charge. [DUATS was discontinued in 2018]

The winds (18 gusting 28) really weren’t suitable for this type of flight and our limited experience in the Cessnas. We hung around the airport for a few hours hoping the weather would abate and lunching in the main passenger terminal. At one point we almost went, but decided to play it safe and stay a further night – this time nearer the airport and make an early start the next day. We had expected to lose at least one day to bad weather, and this was to be it. There wasn’t much nearby our hotel but we could walk to a restaurant on foot which turned out to be a very good one. Shore Diner (sadly nowhere near the beach).

Wed May 13 – New York Skyline Route, Ploughkeepsie, Orange, Augusta, Bar Harbor

We more than made up for being grounded the day before. We were up at 6am, left the hotel at 7 and airborne by 7:50. It was still quite windy but the front had washed through and given us very good visibility. Our planning from the previous day was still valid, and just needed a quick call to a briefer for the latest update.

Polishing windshield
Polishing the windshield prior to our Skyline flight

I flew the New York Skyline Route up the Hudson River at 1500 feet, below the level of some of the skyscrapers and giving excellent views on all sides. This is inside Class Bravo airspace, but apart from ensuring we had clearance and following the well defined route was remarkably straightforward. You don’t see quite as much when you’re piloting, having to focus on maintaining height, direction and radio – those who had flown it before were more than happy to be passengers this time around. You can fly between 1000 and 1300 feet, self announcing and uncontrolled, but we preferred to be under the beady eye of ATC. It surprised me how little other sightseeing traffic there was – perhaps it was just too windy or too early in the day for others.

We didn’t have to report at any of the visible landmarks, being handed off between New York Approach, Newark Tower, La Guardia Tower and then back to New York. This part of the route may be worth a separate more detailed post of its own.

Marina
Seaside marina resort north of Atlantic City
Controls
Just to prove it was me at the controls
VZ Bridge
Verrazano bridge (reporting point VZ pronounced VeeZee) at the start of the route
Newark
Newark on our left
Downtown Manhattan
Downtown Manhattan on our right – coming up to Freedom Tower (far left of picture)
Central Park
Central Park looking east towards Long Island
GWB
George Washington Bridge (GWB) looking west
North
Exiting North up the Hudson

You can watch a 3 minute video of the key parts of the flight (including ATC R/T) below (direct link also here)

I landed at Dutchess County airport in Poughkeepsie (KPOU) for refuelling and crew change. Like many local airports, we saw continuing investment with a lot of work in progress on the runways. The FBO operator was very efficient and friendly, driving the bowser out to refuel immediately on request. He explained that the area had become more of a commuter town for New York, pushing up house prices and making it difficult for the locals to buy. IBM used to be a major employer in the region, but had suffered heavy layoffs in the last decade.

Log
Logged route Atlantic City, through New York to Dutchess County
Dutchess County Airport
Dutchess County Airport
Planning
Paul and Phil planning the next leg to Orange
Entrance
Airport Entrance and tower
Construction
Lots of construction work on the runways – paid for by the local municipality

Paul then flew us on to Orange County (KORE), deftly handling a very difficult and gusting crosswind in what is quite an exposed airfield. This one was untowered, with a single airfield manager dealing with refuelling and operational issues. He pointed us towards a very traditional diner across the road for lunch which was excellent.

Log
Log Dutchess County to Orange Muni
Scenery
Plenty of changing scenery in this area
Airports
Lots of airports enroute
Sky Acres overfly
Overflying Sky Acres
Lakes
Plenty of lakes of various shapes and sizes
Industrial areas
Industrial areas
Orange Muni area
Approaching Orange Muni
Diner
Traditional Diner for Lunch
Signpost
Signposts are a nice touch. But were these pointing at the original towns and cities?
Orange Muni
Orange Muni airport
Ramp
View from the ramp
Identification
You can’t mis-identify this place

Deb flew the next leg up to Augusta (KAUG), the state capital of Maine, another non-towered/self-announced facility. The highlight was being asked to divert from our direct route to avoid a Blue Angel (The US version of the UK Red Arrows), which we were happy to do (we were on Flight Following). Unfortunately we didn’t see the plane itself.

At Augusta as at many other destinations, there is an automatic weather station (ASOS) which constantly broadcasts the weather conditions (wind, temperature, pressure etc.) on a defined radio frequency. Pilots have to determine from that which runway to use, and with a strong westerly wind the choice was clear. The FBO (Maine Instrument Flight) specialises in training for IFR ratings and included a small pilot shop.

Solar panel farm
Americans go in for large solar panel farms too
Augusta
Overhead Augusta, State Capital of Maine
Augusta State Airport
Augusta State Airport

I flew our final leg of the day to Bar Harbor (KBHB), a very scenic area with many islands. We flew near Bristol Airport (not the original). Our earlier forecast had indicated the winds should die down by late afternoon, but we were still in light turbulence with strong gusting winds of 7G20. Self-announcing, we co-ordinated with the one aircraft already in the circuit and joined for the same runway. I was side swiped by a gust just a few feet off the ground and opted for the safe choice of a go-around. On closer examination, the windsock favoured the other runway and we both reverted to that for a much less eventful touchdown.

Log
Augusta State to Bar Harbor
Bristol Airport Maine
Bristol Airport (Maine)
Bar Harbor Islands
Approaching Bar Harbor
Scenery en-route
Change of scenery en-route to Bar Harbor

The taxi into town takes about 20 minutes. It’s not obvious from the road that Bar Harbor is on an island – the bridge is quite short. It’s an idyllic seaside resort, very stylish architecture with many personalised hotels and restaurants. We stayed at the Bar Manor Hotel which the owners have run for 26 years, but my room felt brand new and very well appointed. There are about 60 restaurants within three blocks – it’s a popular stop for Cruise Ships – but was quiet at this early start of the season.

Seafood was outstanding and we enjoyed an excellent meal at Galyns, another long established restaurant in the town.

Bar Harbor Manor Hotel
Bar Harbor Manor Hotel
Museum
Museum in the street
Shoreline walk
Shoreline walk

It was sure a pretty packed day!

The charts below help set the context of how far and where we flew. (Planned not actual logs).

Route Plan
Overall route plan for the day
Route in small scale chart
Small scale map of North Eastern USA

Part 4 took us back to our Mansfield base via Portsmouth and Hyannis/Barnstaple on the Cape Cod peninsula.

One comment

  1. Yes, it’s great fun and very rewarding (if hard work to learn and pass the tests). I wish you luck on your journey…

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