FAA bans tour flights along NYC East River
 

For anyone interested in tour flights around NYC - just be aware that the FAA has just banned low level tour flights along the Esat River. This means that tour flights will be able to tour around the harbor and up the Hudson - but not along the East Side.

So - double check with the tour company to see what itinerary they're now offering. (Planes can still fly up the East River at higher altitudes - but only after filing a flight plan and receiving OK from LaGuardia Flight Control - which presumably tours won't want to bother to do.)

Not so. There is a new requirement that planes flying in the East River corridor be in contact with air traffic control. I'm sure that this will drive the controller's crazy, but things like this are done to appease the talking heads and make it look as though something substantive is taking place.

According to the news mendia (Bloomberg): "The impact on small airplanes will be limited because most of the aircraft using the East River corridor are helicopters..."

I live on the UES and as far as I know, there are no "tour flights" along the East River. The airspace is restricted north of 96th Street (which is why Corey Lidle was making a U-turn when he crashed).

I'm sure the helicopter tours of the harbor area will continue.

Sorry - the info was quite specific. Low flying tour planes (under 1,100 feet) are no longer allowed over the east river under any circumstances. Planes wanting to fly over the east river must use higher altitudes and file flight plans with LGA and be under their control.

This is a significant difference - since most tour flights did go up the east river - at low altitudes and with no flight plans filed with LGA.

Now they can do the harbor and Hudson only at low altitudes.

Like I said, there are no non-monitored "tour flights" up the East River anyway -- they'd have to make a tight U-turn at the end of 96th Street that would not be "tourist-friendly."

Second, low-altitude planes are still allowed up the corrior as long as they are in contact with air-traffic control.

nytraveler: I'd be leery of "quite specific" aviation information that appears in the general media. Most news reporters and editors can barely spell aviation, let alone understand it or get it right. As an example, several of the early news reports I heard were quite specific in saying a light "twin" aircraft had hit the building even after the Cirrus-20 type had been identified.

I don't know what the new limitations are but if I needed to know, I'd go to the FAA or AOPA web sites, not news reports.

I apologize for the government gobbledegook, but this is the Notice to Airmen:

FDC 6/3495 ZNY EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE, VFR
FLIGHT OPERATIONS INVOLVING FIXED WING AIRCRAFT (EXCLUDING AMPHIBIOUS
FIXED WING AIRCRAFT LANDING OR DEPARTING NEW YORK SKYPORTS INC
SEAPLANE BASE) IN THE EAST RIVER CLASS B EXCLUSION AREA EXTENDING
FROM THE SOUTHWESTERN TIP OF GOVERNORS ISLAND TO THE NORTH TIP OF
ROOSEVELT ISLAND, ARE PROHIBITED UNLESS AUTHORIZED AND BEING
CONTROLLED BY ATC. TO OBTAIN AUTHORIZATION CONTACT LGA ATCT SOUTH OF
GOVERNORS ISLAND ON 126.05.

Note the "unless authorized and being controlled by ATC" part.