Training in the Long Island / New York Airspace

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leonisa

Filing Flight Plan
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May 25, 2009
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Hi,

Can anyone give me an idea of what it is like to train around Long Island?

I have previously trained in south Florida where it is busy but the practice areas are often out of way over the Everglades.

Looking at the sectional there are training areas north and south of the Deer Park VOR, around the water.

It looks very congested, can some with experience of the area shed some light? Mainly thinking of commercial maneuvers.

Thanks.
 
I trained at MaCarther (Islip airport) in 1974... It was a beehive even back then... can't imagine it got any better over the years... Crossed the Sound on all my solo cross country flights... Pretty exciting place, overall!
 
Hi, worked for me, I flew out of Islip and usually had NY approach giving traffic advisories, of course you have to keep a look out and be diligent with your scanning. Go for it, a lot of people train here, why not you?
 
I flight instruct out of FRG. If you don't want to wait 30 minutes on the ground fly before 8 am or after 6pm. It's like any other airport, follow directions, listen up, and you'll be fine. North and south shores are the practice areas. Usually the south shore is more crowded so I prefer the north shore.
 
On paper it just doesn't look like a good place to be doing chandelles and lazy 8's.

Surely the place is littered with people squeezing past Kennedy?
 
leonisa said:
On paper it just doesn't look like a good place to be doing chandelles and lazy 8's.

Surely the place is littered with people squeezing past Kennedy?
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You can do the maneuvers, just keep an eye out for traffic or get traffic advisories from approach. I did all my training out of FRG.
 
I looking at Brookhaven but I am assuming the practice area is the same.
 
Brookhaven isn't bad, or wasn't ten years ago. I'd rather drive out east then burn 30 minutes on the clock waiting. Once you are East of ISP there is plenty of sky.
 
leonisa said:
I looking at Brookhaven but I am assuming the practice area is the same.
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No; I trained out of Brookhaven, and most of my maneuvers practice was over the north shore between the Northport stacks and Calverton VOR (CCC). Its not quite as constricted as the practice area over Captree on the south shore, but I would see planes maneuvering there as well as I was on my way past JFK.
 
I've been flying out of Islip for over 12 years and see it as a good place to train. Sure there's traffic but with flight following, you're in good hands. You have uncontrolled, Class C and B nearby so it certainly forces you to get proficient on the radio.

And the controllers are so nice!
 
I don't see why so many people stay at FRG for t&g. I would rather take the extra few minutes and go elsewhere for less congested traffic. On a busy day with 6 or 7 planes in the pattern, jet traffic comes in and really screws everything up.
 
Brookhaven should meet all your needs,plenty of class C practice,also class D towers in the area,and the sound pretty close for practicing maneuvers. If you go into FOK ,be on your game ,the controllers can get testy.
 
I don't see why so many people stay at FRG for t&g. I would rather take the extra few minutes and go elsewhere for less congested traffic. On a busy day with 6 or 7 planes in the pattern, jet traffic comes in and really screws everything up.
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Ironically ISP is often much less busy, even though it's Class C.

Overall I think Long Island is a great place to train. Traffic can get a bit intense, but learning to work the radios and fly in such a busy airspace makes one a much better pilot. During the summer especially there's a ton of different traffic of all types. If you can schedule around non-busy times then it's a lot better.

Departures from the Bravo quickly climb and usually aren't an issue, but arrivals often come in low and slow so you can find 777s, 747s and A380s at like 3000 outside the Bravo so one needs to pay attention. NY TRACON is great and will nearly always give you advisories / flight following to help with all that.

Looking at the sectional there are training areas north and south of the Deer Park VOR, around the water.

It looks very congested, can some with experience of the area shed some light? Mainly thinking of commercial maneuvers.
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Yes... agree with earlier comments that the North practice area tends to be quieter. NY TRACON will provide advisories to help with traffic so you should be fine with maneuvers... just keep a keen eye for traffic. Particularly on the south shore just be careful of traffic in both directions that follows the beach just offshore.
 
I've been training out of KISP for a year now. You can't beat the Class C experience. I usually head for the north practice area with clearance, then head back for T&G's. Can get busy on the weekends in the pattern but it makes you listen up, and pay attention. Caution wake turbulence from Southwest 737's landing and departing, usually on runway 6/24. Controllers are really patient, and do a great job keeping everyone happy.

Good luck.:thumbsup:
 
TommyG said:
I don't see why so many people stay at FRG for t&g. I would rather take the extra few minutes and go elsewhere for less congested traffic. On a busy day with 6 or 7 planes in the pattern, jet traffic comes in and really screws everything up.
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Yea if my students are practicing touch and go's I tell them to book at 8am or 6pm or don't bother asking for closed traffic
 
I'm training at FRG right now and it gets crazy busy, but it makes for good practice. You really improve your radio chops when you are trying to squeeze a word in. I got spanked yesterday because I was just listening for a gap in transmissions and I quit actually listening to the content (because I had to wait so long), then I jumped in between a question/answer from the controller. Lesson learned. They will correct you, but they won't be @ssholes about it. They were also training controllers, I believe. So we all work together and watch each others' back.

And the other posters are correct, ISP is almost always completely dead (I fly on weekdays 5:30-7:30), so we usually go practice T&G's there. But I stayed in the pattern at FRG yesterday for .8 of dual, then .7 of solo. It was a little stressful but fun. Where else can you get the experience of switching runways, intersection departures, extended downwinds, spotting traffic, tower/ground radio calls, etc, all in .7 of flying?
 
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