New in NYC

[Petr Garaj]

Hello,

first of all I would like to thank Eric Dunetz for his initial help. :)

To introduce myself - I´m a spotter from Prague and I´m coming this Saturday to NYC for 3 weeks (for a language training). After the school and on weekends I would like to take pictures on JFK/LGA and also on some Heliports(I don´t know a lot of them :( ) .

It will be my first time in NYC and I´m looking for other photographers, that I could join. Prague is much smaller than NYC and I also mean the airports. I´m also a little bit scared of the NYPD, in Prague we don´t get any trouble with the police and we have our "Photo holes" in the fences. To this I don´t have the drivers licence, so I can´t rent a car. In the Czech Republic you need to be 18 to get a licence. I´m 16, but I´m doing my pilots exam on Friday. Thank you very much for your help and I´m sorry for my bad English :).

Some of my pictures are on Airliners.net, but mostly you will find them on Planes.cz :

http://www.planes.cz/foto1.asp?typ=&spo ... m&jazyk=cz

BTW: If somebody wants something from the Czech Republic just let me know and I will try to bring it.

[USAF Pilot 07]

Wow, those are some really great pictures!

Enjoy your stay in NYC! I'm sure you will be able to meet up with some NYC spotters and enjoy the NYC action!

It will be hard to spot at JFK without a car, so this is where it will help if someone can meet you and give you a ride there to spot.

LGA is the best public transportation accessible airport to spot. From Manhattan take the 4/5/6 subway to 125th street, and then the M60 bus to LGA. (This will make more sense once you're in NYC).

If you have any other questions, just ask!

[T-Bird76]

Hey Welcome to the site and I'm sure you'll be able to meet some of us while your here. Great pics to btw!!

Tom

[Tom_Turner]

Hi Petr.

If I get some free time, I can show you the NYC Heliports, but if not, they're all fairly easy to get to in Manhattan. (Get a subway or bus map from the clerks in the subway if you don't already have one.. you can probably pick one up at the airport.)

The one with the most traffic is the West 30th Street Heliport along the Hudson River. This heliport gets a bit of traffic on the weekends as well. Unfortunately it is also the most difficult to photograph at due to access and sun angles.

The East 34th Street heliport (on the East River) is quite busy as well, but has more limited space. This heliport is closed on the weekend. Sun is good from about late morning to mid afternoon when it disappaars behind the skyscrapers... shoot from the south side.

Wall Street/Downtown Heliport is also along the East River between The South Street Seaport and South Ferry at the southern tip of Manhattan.
This is the largest heliport but traffic is sometimes sparse, and fairly unpredictable. Sun is tricky in the afternoon but manageable. This one is sometimes open on the weekends, but traffic is not good on those days.

Most of the traffic is Corporate at all three heliports, and you are guaranteed to see many S-76s and Ecureuils. Bell Jet Ranger/Long Rangers and Agusta 109s (and to a lesser extent Koalas) are common as well as Bell 430s.

The S-92 has been seen (but I don't believe East 34th Street will accomodate them..).

Bell 47s, Robinsons, corporate Dauphins, enstroms, schwietzer/hughes, older Sikorskys, other large Bell Variants and Vertols/Chinooks and older Eurocopter/AS are much less likely, but not impossible.

Good luck..

Tom

[MarkLawrence]

Hi Petr

I replied in private message regarding something from the Czech Republic! :)

[Petr Garaj]

Hi to all,

thank you very much for the help. I think, I will go more often for spotting to LGA and to JFK I have to take a cab. I´ll let you know, when I´m in NYC. Today I have made my Glider licence, I´m so happy :). I had some crosswind up to 18kt. :(

[Petr Garaj]

So I'm in NYC now a very big city :). Our flight was 30 minutes to early so we had to wait for the bridge. I'm livinig in the Claremont Ave. I wilul try to get some food and then maybe I will go for spotting to LGA.

Some other questions: Where are some good photo/electronic shops? I have seen a lot of them, but I think you know them better. And I am also looking for clothes :-D. Any tips? Thanks

[SP-LPB]

Some other questions: Where are some good photo/electronic shops? I have seen a lot of them, but I think you know them better. And I am also looking for clothes :-D. Any tips? Thanks

As for photography you would want to check out B&H: http://www.bhphotovideo.com
Make sure you double check the business hours, they're closed on Sat. and they only work till early noon on Fridays; other than that Mon.-Thurs. and Sun. they work till

It's really easy to get there, take the A or C trains (blue line) down to 34th Street-Penn Station. And just walk down towards 9th Ave..

If you got any questions just PM or e-mail me.

[hiss srq]

Well welcome to the sates side and have a blast I like to think this area is the greatest place in the world for spotting along with the airports of London. Welcome aboard and enjoy.

[Petr Garaj]

Yesterday, I went for the second time to LGA(Planeview Park, I love it, it's like SXM). Sadly RWY22 and 31 were in use. So I decided to go back to Manhattan, from the 7 train I saw the Aviation High School in Queens. I went in and the friendly security man showed me the hangar. In the evening I was looking for an internet coffee...I landed somewhere in Harlem, it was not the best feeling. Now I have bought a laptop so I dont need the netcoffees anymore. I had enough time to google out some informations: I can get with a bus to some spotting points in JFK...maybe I will go there on wednesday. As I have written above, I'm a helicopter fan. I discovered, that the NYPD Air Unit is located on the closed Floyd Bennett Airport in Brooklyn. I know, that a bus is going there, but the airport is big. Somebody knows where their base is located? Or do you know some contacts to ask for a visit(couldn't find any on the NYPD site). On A.net I also saw some pictures of Historical Aircraft...any chance to get there? Are there some AFB near NYC? I was also looking for a Pilot Shop and I found only one near LGA, does somebody know some others(I'm looking for a Jeppesen bag). And the last question: does somebody from here play baseball? Sorry for so many questions and good night

P.S. Some pictures from NYC:

[hiss srq]

I play baseball, not professionally or anything unfortuneately but I do in Florida play. I played all through school too till I graduated High School. Great sport.

[mikephotos]

I discovered, that the NYPD Air Unit is located on the closed Floyd Bennett Airport in Brooklyn. I know, that a bus is going there, but the airport is big. Somebody knows where their base is located? Or do you know some contacts to ask for a visit(couldn't find any on the NYPD site). On A.net I also saw some pictures of Historical Aircraft...any chance to get there?

The main entrance road will lead you right to the NYPD unit, it's towards the back (a long long walk).

Mike

[USAF Pilot 07]

The Q35 (IIRC) is the bus that goes down towards Floyd Bennett Field. It stops on the main road, and then from what I understand it's quite a hike to the NYPD helos... Also, I don't know how the security will be around those helicopters. I'm sure there's a guard booth or something that you may have to go through before getting close, and they may not be all that receptive to someone wanting to come take pictures of their choppers...

The closest active duty AFB to NYC is McGuire AFB. It's about 50 miles south of NYC, in the middle of nowhere. The whole "base" is huge because Ft. Dix (an Army base) is on the other side. I believe (but am not 100% sure) that you can access the base via a NJ transit train to a bus, that either goes on base or stops at the gate, but either way you won't be allowed on base, and probably won't be able to get any good pictures. The whole ride from Penn Station takes something like 3 hours too...

Stewart ARB is about 60 miles north of NYC, but there is no public transportation available to that airport.

Sweet pics BTW!

[SP-LPB]

And the last question: does somebody from here play baseball?

I do, huge Yankee fan. If you want bring a baseball glove over to the picnic- if you're coming- maybe we'll have enough people to play a game (you need nine ). Oh, BTW I'm also a Jagr and Straka fan.

[hiss srq]

I am trying to Non-rev up Friday or Saturday and I will be bringing my glove with me if i can make it