Best route to take Long Island, NY to Central NJ

orange

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I have never flown to NJ, but next month I'm going to go FRG to N87.

I'm thinking Long Island shore below the JFK floor (500) then past Kennedy turn south-southwest and climb. (But I'm confused what I can climb to because the outer Bravo circles from JFK and Newark meet and JFK floor is 1500 and Newark's is 3000).

I'll try to get flight following so hopefully approach can clear me higher because I'd like to be as high as possible over water.

Thanks
 

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Why go under the B? NY controllers are awesome and never denied me a VFR transition even if they are dealing with lots of traffic going into JFK and LGA. They like 6,500 westbound and 5,500 east. Going west they'll take you on top JFK. After JFK, they may give you direct to your destination or tell you to fly a 240 heading after JFK for a little bit while they get you away from traffic. When you come back, go direct to Sandy Hook then after they'll vector you around once you get closer to JFK.
 
jordane93 said:
Why go under the B? NY controllers are awesome and never denied me a VFR transition even if they are dealing with lots of traffic going into JFK and LGA. They like 6,500 westbound and 5,500 east. Going west they'll take you on top JFK. After JFK, they may give you direct to your destination or tell you to fly a 240 heading after JFK for a little bit while they get you away from traffic. When you come back, go direct to Sandy Hook then after they'll vector you around once you get closer to JFK.
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In my experience they wont let you in unless you can do those altitudes.

Plus orange would have to go out of the way to climb to altitude. I've done the route shown once. I don't know if I'd do it in the winter, but that's me. I don't like water temperatures that will kill you before rescue could arrive.
 
Last time I was IFR and I was sent down the middle of Long Island Sound pretty much to pick up the 052 radial of JFK and the V16 down into NJ.
 
jordane93 said:
Why go under the B? NY controllers are awesome and never denied me a VFR transition even if they are dealing with lots of traffic going into JFK and LGA. They like 6,500 westbound and 5,500 east. Going west they'll take you on top JFK. After JFK, they may give you direct to your destination or tell you to fly a 240 heading after JFK for a little bit while they get you away from traffic. When you come back, go direct to Sandy Hook then after they'll vector you around once you get closer to JFK.
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So do you climb up to 6500 around South Practice area/Captree and then head west?
 
Just fly at 1400ft and stay out of the surface area. It's marginally farther over water and if you engine quits in that 10min span, we'll I guess it was your time.
 
orange said:
So do you climb up to 6500 around South Practice area/Captree and then head west?
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No. Get a westbound departure from tower. Ask for an early frequency change from FRG. Fly a west heading and maintain 1100ft then call up approach and tell them you want FF to N87 at 6500. They'll usually immediately clear you into the bravo climb and maintain 6500 with either a vector or direct JFK on course
 
I commuted for 6 years from south jersey to Republic both VFR and IFR. They will take you VFR off of Republic and steer your thru with vectors. They arte literally the best and most accommodating guys to work with.
Very easy and much safer than skirting under with the helicopter guys
 
I climb right up and usually would get direct over JFK... if you do go along the shore at 400agl, the risk is more from other traffic than the ocean. All along the transition is long empty beaches this time of year which would be where you'd put it down if you needed to.


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+1 to what a lot of the others are saying here. NY Approach was fantastic when I was flying in NJ. When I would get flight following they would always clear me through the B, without my asking. Just don't hog the radio, that will get them annoyed. Have what you're going to say planned ahead of time and get it out quickly and deliberately.
 
I always ask for 4500 JFK robinsville. Have never been denied. Call as soon as you get an early frequency change.
 
NY TRACON controllers are the best, just tell them what you want to do and they'll nearly always fit you in somehow. They'll expect you to be on your game so if your VFR and they give you direct to a VOR or such you'll need to be spot on in executing that but they'll help you out. You'll sometimes hear pilots call up blabbering radio calls and such and TRACON won't respond ("on the landline", sure ;-) ) but if you sound competent they'll get you on your way quickly.

I usually pass through here IFR but hear lots of VFR traffic being given Bravo clearances without even asking. The pilot will be all like "um, yeah, I'm staying below the Bravo out here going to track around the edge here to stay clear" and TRACON will be like "if you can climb up to 5500 VFR I can just give you direct your destination through the Bravo".
 
Have done both VFR and IFR through NY airspace,never had a problem .If you can hold altitude and heading,The Controllers will clear you through the bravo,and give you vectors to stay out of the airliner traffic.
 
I feel much better with my wearable inflatable life vest when over water. I figure the last thing I'll be up for after a rough water landing is a swim, no matter the temp. No guarantee I would smoothly Sully it in there. I flew in the bravo once and they took me real real low directly over JFK. That was awesome and wish I could have taken a picture.
 
+1 on 6500 over JFK to Colts Neck. Only did it once out of Republic, but no issues. Inform ground of your request.
 
I am sorta based out of N87, and did my flight school there. Your flight was actually my night cross country. It was a lot of fine. More than likely they will take you directly over JFK then straight across the mouth of the Hudson to the Sandy Hook area towards Colts Neck VOR. If you are not comfortable being out of glide range for 10 minutes or so, you may need to request a different way. But as other have said, they will basically vector you around to avoid the big stuff, which is all fairly low at that point. Just watch the approach to runway 29, the winds over the trees can get really squirrely. Also, the VASI to runway 11 is very steep (like 4 degrees) so it will be double red even when you look to be on glideslope.

Why are you heading out that way, if you do not mind me asking? The family that owns the repair shop and flight school there are very nice.
 
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I did fly the low beach route pictured once. Called up the tower at JFK for the tradition at 500ft or below (strictly speaking not required but a good idea). There was a break in the radio transmission and the tower came on and was like "Hey where are you heading? If you'd like I can setup flight following for you and hand you off to TRACON when you leave our airspace." To my pleasant surprise they were super accommodating... guess I thought they'd be annoyed with small bugsmasher traffic near their airport but it was quite the opposite.
 
Just call NY approach on 128.12 (125.7 if no one answers) and request a class B transition at 6500 en route to N87

90% if the time they'll let you through

Get an early frequency change from republic tower, as sometimes NY can be busy

On the reverse route call NY on 135.9

I do the route all the time to that area and I definitely wouldn't feel comfortable flying at 400 ft on the shoreline, especially with what I assume is a rented plane that you are flying.
 
drotto said:
Why are you heading out that way, if you do not mind me asking? The family that owns the repair shop and flight school there are very nice.
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A friend who lives 5 minutes from N87 is having a party on a Saturday next month. I was gonna drive it, but since I've never flown to NJ, it's a chance for a new flight.

Thanks for the tips.
 
josephades said:
Just call NY approach on 128.12 (125.7 if no one answers) and request a class B transition at 6500 en route to N87

90% if the time they'll let you through

Get an early frequency change from republic tower, as sometimes NY can be busy

On the reverse route call NY on 135.9

I do the route all the time to that area and I definitely wouldn't feel comfortable flying at 400 ft on the shoreline, especially with what I assume is a rented plane that you are flying.
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128.12? I've never used that before. It's usually 125.7 going west and 120.05 going east.

Thanks.
 
N87 is a great field. Transient parking is at the far west side of the field, by the PSE&G hangar. As mentioned above, watch out for crosswinds... if you have them, you'll also have pretty good turbulence on the approach to 29 due to the trees. Airmods has a flight school and a great repair shop. Not an FBO though, so don't expect 24h support. There's no restaurant either.

This <---- pic was taken in front of the Airmods hanger :)
 
orange said:
128.12? I've never used that before. It's usually 125.7 going west and 120.05 going east.

Thanks.
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128.12 overlooks kennedy. When I first started getting class B transitions, 128.12 were the ones who would give it to me. 125.7 would usually tell me "ask the next controller". The last time I went VFR, I was able to get a class B transition from 125.7, but then again I only tried that once. Now I mainly just go on an IFR flight plan, since my class B transition is pretty much guaranteed and I don't have to try to fit myself in and get the approval.
 
After departure, switch over to NY Departure on 125.7 and I have never been denied a bravo transition at 6,500...but you gotta be on your A game with radio. Most of the controllers are awesome - there's only 1 angry/grumpy controller...lol.

If for some reason you want to go under the Bravo AND 125.7 is too busy, contact JFK Tower on 119.1 or 123.9 for flight following. Usually the best route is KFRG - JFK - COL - N87. Remember bottom of Bravo is 500' so I would recommend staying around 400'.
 
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