New York, Penn State, Newburgh, and a new camera!

It seems as though my trip to Michigan were yesterday. After I realized almost a month has gone by, however, I became obligated to make an update. I can only blame the high level of writing that I have had to complete that seems to have turned me against any form of writing whatsoever. But here I am, so here it goes.

My first flight that followed my long trip to Michigan was a much shorter hop to Westchester, NY (HPN), which took about 1 hour each way. Westchester is located about 10-15 miles north of Manhattan, and has become one of the notorious New York City area airports, although it is far from experiencing the extensive delays that JFK, Newark, and La Guardia airports face. Rather than being a commercial airline hub, it is the secondary corporate hub for New York City after Teterboro, NJ. Being near the middle of the New York Class "Bravo" airspace, I knew as a pilot that I must prepare myself for a possible heavier volume of traffic to watch out for.

I don't think I've gone over Class Bravo, or just "B", airspace before, so I'll explain it a little. Class B airspace is the airspace in the United States that surrounds the busiest and largest metropolitan areas, such as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, and most other large U.S. cities. The airspace consists of a 30 nautical miles radius around the core airport in which all aircraft must have an operating Mode-C, or altitude reporting, transponder. Once inside of that circle, think of the Class B airspace as an upside-down wedding cake, like this. This represents the ATC ceilings that some smaller general aviation aircraft may choose to abide by if they choose not to enter the airspace. However, the airspace extends up from the surface around the core airport, like the center of the wedding cake, so any pilots who do not wish to speak to a controller must avoid that area. If a VFR pilot wishes to enter Class B airspace, he must contact ATC beforehand and receive clearance. I have heard stories, however, that sometimes airspace like that surrounding NYC has been so busy at times that controllers will actually deny clearance. Otherwise, it's fairly common to receive a clearance. Since the NYC has three major airports, the airspace is a little more bigger and complicated. The highest ceiling of a Class B airspace is to my knowledge 10,000ft, but that may vary depending on the area. If you want to do a little more research on types of airspace, look up Class A, B, C, D, E, and G airspaces on Google or another search engine.

Anyway, the New York Class B didn't turn out to be nearly as busy as I expected, and the descent, approach, and landing was typical and easy. After I landed, I started taxiing back to the runway for an immediate departure back to Allentown. This is typical for me, as I'm just doing cross country flights (50 miles one way or longer), so I have no need or obligation to stop and get out. I followed a Citation and Learjet out to the runway, and they were off the ground before I knew it. For some reason, a fighter jet decided to stop by, but unfortunately I didn't get to catch a shot of it. On the way back, I captured a few shots of the island of Manhattan in the distance and I was also caught flying with out any hands! :-) I also managed to get a quick photo of the lights of the surrounding suburbs.



The next week, I did another short cross country to Newburgh, NY, where Stewart Intl (SWF) is located. Unlike the flight to Westchester, I didn't cross through any busy airspace. The airport is actually in Class Delta, or just "D", airspace. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get any pictures because I went to the airport directly from school, and I had left my camera at home. I immediately regretted that when, while taxiing back to the runway at SWF, a Lockheed C-5 Galaxy landed right in front of my eyes. I had always seen photos of this monmouth aircraft, which is used as a transport/cargo aircraft for the U.S. military, but I had never seen one myself, much less in-flight. It was landing at SWF because SWF is partially a military airbase. I was happy that two of my friends had come along for the ride to enjoy the awe as well.



Next stop: Penn State/University Park, PA. This has always been one of my favorite destinations, mainly because the flight time is neither too long or too short and the ATC congestion is minimal. However, the latter changes on the day of a Penn State football game. In fact, those games are the reason that University Park Airport is, according to what I've heard, the busiest uncontrolled airport in the United States as many aircraft owners or hot-shots with business jets choose to fly in. Sometimes it gets so busy that ATC has to assign arrival and departure slots, a type of tactic utilized by controllers in busier airspace such as New York. Normally, however, traffic is very sparse at Penn State.



Anyway, I departed Queen City Airport without a problem, and even saw a light sport aircraft, the type of which is becoming very popular as a trainer. I'm not sure about the exact make and model, but I know that this type carries two people, is extremely fuel-efficient, and the performance is exceptional as well. As a matter of fact, I watched the aircraft takeoff on the 3500ft runway, but only used 500ft on the ground roll at most. I'm sure the big windows offer a spectacular view as well! As you can see here, the weather during this short trip was totally VFR, an ideal setting for photography. I encountered a few clouds on the way back, but nothing that impeded my view for too long. Clouds are good for photography too! During the descent into Allentown, I managed to break my personal speed record by 1 knot. It was previously 180kt, but thanks to a generous tailwind, I hit 181. I could've gone faster, but I didn't want to make my passenger uncomfortable with a steep rate of descent.


Last but not least, my last flight was another one back to Stewart International in New York state. However, this time the weather was significantly worse. When my Dad and I departed Allentown, the weather consisted of a light drizzle and overcast clouds at 1100ft. Perhaps this will put the situation into perspective. So, my Dad and I took off and before I knew it we were in the clouds. That was my last view of the ground for the next hour, as I was in the clouds the entire flight to Stewart until the final approach phase. Enroute, a portion of the window seal began to peel off, but I deemed it to be safe and not a big deal at all. However, just to be safe, I kept an eye on the condition of the seal, if any water was leaking into the aircraft, and had a nearby alternate airport in mind should I be forced to land quickly. Due to low ceilings present at Stewart Int'l, I conducted an ILS approach to runway 09, and broke out of the clouds about 800ft above the ground. After I landed, I taxied back to the runway for the return flight to Allentown, and as I awaited takeoff clearance, a JetBlue Airbus A320 landed right in front of me. A few minutes later, I was back in the air.

The weather along the way home was more of the same: clouds. As I approached Allentown, however, the clouds began to thin out and I started grazing the bottom of the clouds. I love it when I get to be that close because it seems like I'm flying at warp five. Since the weather cleared up, I decided to cancel my IFR flight plan in-flight and I proceeded directly to Queen City Airport to cut some corners.

That's what I've been up to in the last few weeks with respect to my flying. I hope that you enjoyed the update and that you check out the rest of my photos on my flickr site (see link to the right). Also, don't forget about my videos on my youtube site (also to the right, a new video was just uploaded: here). Oh, and if you've noticed that the quality of my photos are slightly better, than you have a good eye because I did get a new camera for my birthday. I hope that will continue to improve the quality of my images and videos over time. Lastly, comments on this site and those two sites I just mentioned are certainly welcome.