A New York State of Mind
I’ve been flying for fun and with little purpose for quite some time. Some would say that is the best kind of flying. From my former base at Republic Airport (KFRG) and now Westchester County (KHPN), I’ve flown to seven states throughout the northeast. Discarding KFRG and KHPN, my home state of New York does not make up the majority of my visited airfields (that distinction goes to Connecticut). Amazingly, none of those seven states is the neighboring state of New Jersey - I’ve flown over the Garden State but never landed.
I bring up this point to highlight that my purpose has always been about having fun with this hobby and not checking things off on a list. Of course, there are few exceptions, namely cross-country requirements for both the private certificate and instrument rating. Still, even in those cases, the destination was never chosen by random but preselected by my instructors for the simple reason of familiarity.
I’m going to change that with this upcoming flight.
FAR 61.129 lays out the requirements for a commercial pilot certificate and one of those requirements is a minimum 300 nautical mile (nm) flight with at least three landings at different airports. That first leg must be at least 250 nm from the departure airport. It’s a glaring hole in what I need to earn the commercial (if I decide to earn it).
Doing a quick 250 nm radius search around KHPN, I noticed that Buffalo is a straight diagonal line just meeting that distance from near New York City to the far west of New York State. I’ve never been beyond Albany so the decision was made immediately. This blog is devoted to my pilot adventures and crisscrossing the Empire State would make for a great one!
With that said, I am not stopping at Buffalo. I’ve been there before and while there’s plenty to offer in the way of food and friendly folk, there isn’t much to see from the ground or the air. A place that just about guarantees majestic views from the air is Niagara Falls and it’s only another 10 minutes northwest. So, that is it. My first stop is Niagara Falls International Airport - 264 nm from runway to runway.
After refueling and maybe a quick stop outside of the airport to have a taste of the delicious western New York favorite Mighty Taco, I’ll do the aerial tour of the Falls. Local procedures call for a bit of a rectangular right-traffic pattern over the Niagara River and Falls; remain above 3,500 feet; and self-announce on 122.05. Everything that I’ve read suggests that the views are great despite the relatively high altitude but one would want to ensure a clear day to experience it at its best.
Settling on a second airport was merely a matter of roughly selecting a midpoint on the way back home and the Hamilton, New York - located in the center of the state - qualified perfectly. It’s a small, scenic airport lying in a valley and it may be the perfect place to take a coursey car into the village to explore.
So, this is a rough idea of my upcoming plans though I am not sure when I’ll do this. It’s only a matter of weather as spring takes longer to arrive in upstate New York and I would like to go when the weather is ideal. Whatever and whenever this happens, this next flight will be fun - and with purpose!
