Flying the Hudson through NY and to Washington DC.

Next week I have a couple of old friends from Europe coming to visit me here in Canada and I am planning to take them on a "Trip of a Life Time" (at least for them) in my RV-10 down the Hudson River NY. VFR corridor and then onto Washington DC for a couple of days.

I did this trip about 20 years ago in a Comanche so I am sure there has been some changes in the rules since then.

If anyone out there has flown this this trip in the last year or so and would share some of the Do's and Dont's with me I would sure appreciate it.

What airport in the NY area is a good one to launch from to do the Hudson corridor?

What publications and charts do I need and where is the best place to get them?

As far as airports in the DC area I am thinking about College Park (KCGS) but it falls within the vail of a current TFR. Does that mean that it is off limits to private aircraft operations?

Part 93 rules

Ivan,
You need to read up on the rules, especially for the Washington DC area.
Read up on part 93 sub parts V and W in particular. Operating inside the FRZ is pretty much impossible around DC, but the Washington SFRA can be done squawking and talking. Make sure you do everything perfect, lest you get an unwanted escort.
Here is the link:
http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/retriev...0a2c52a0c6&h=L&n=14y2.0.1.3.11&r=PART&ty=HTML

Watch out for stadium TFR.. Yankees' stadium affects the Hudson corridor... so be careful with that. I am going up this weekend and not sure I'll be able to do it as that TFR will really mess it up for me..

Flying the Hudson and Washington DC SFRA and FRZ

Please follow this link for online training in for the Hudson and DC area.

http://www.faasafety.gov/

CGS is inside the FRZ and you will not be able to land there without a whole lot of advance coordination. To fly within 60 miles of the DC SFRA you need to complete this training anyway.

College Park is within the DC FRZ and you must be "vetted" to fly into that airport. Not being local that will not be an option for you to get done as it requires finger printing, a back ground check, and visits to the Baltimore and DC FSDO's. KGAI, Montgomery Airpark is in Gaithersburg, MD just NW of College Park and close to the Shady Grove Metro station. If you plan on taking some time to tour DC this would be your best option. It is in the DC SFRA so be sure to take the online course and get familar with the proceedures. It is not difficult but must be followed. There are some other posts if you do a search on here or google about the proceedures. There are others on this list that may suggest other airports in the area which is fine but double check transporation methods from them in and out of DC. Renting a car to drive in and out works but parking will be either very expensive or street parking hard to find.

flying the Hudson is very easy, from north to south hug the west side of the river splitting the uprights of the Geo Washington Bridge. If you start far enough north you can do a nice lazy run down past west point (watch the power lines crossing the river by the nuke plant)and the tappan zee.

the is a TFR that pops up around Yankee stadium, and as far as the locals go.. it is ignored. but your mileage may vary. the stadium is on the other side of Manhattan in the Bronx, and you are skimming the outer limit,,,

as you head south make a few announcements on the CATF (look up the freq I don't have it here, and check the alt I think it is 1100ft to the surface,,,) some good check points for the other pilots in the airspace are the GWB, the Intrepid , and the Holland ventilators . once in the upper bay, keep the statue of liberty to your west, and Governors island on your east, )announce both) again split the uprights of the VZ bridge in to the lower bay, and keeping Staten island to your west/north and slip under EWR,s approach. into NJ, and you can slide over to Sky Manor N40 for lunch and good gas (a few 8s on the filed back when we were there.)


OH and keep your eyes open for Helos the place is littered with them

Washington, you are on your own... I just file and fly in to IAD, not worth the trouble

Hudson corridor

You can access the New York Terminal Area Chart via skyvector.com. The upper altitude of the Hudson corridor is 1300'
The detailed info on frequencys, procedures etc is on the back of the chart, so you really need to buy a chart.

New York and Washington (SFRA)

Thanks to all for the help you have given me here. I have done the on-line courses for both the Washington Special Flight Rules Area (SFRA) and the NY City SFRA. Now armed with a good knowledge of the rules and the correct charts combined with the experience of having done it once before (15+ years ago) I feel quite confident that we can pull this off without any trouble.

The plan is to fly directly to Westchester County (KHPN) for customs and then launch from there to do the Hudson River sight seeing tour. After the tour we will stop in Monmouth Executive (KBLM) for lunch and file an IFR flight plan to go into Gaithersburg (KGAI) where we will stay for a couple of nights and do the Washington tourist thing.

Here is a link to SkyVectors.com showing my routing.

http://skyvector.com/?ll=40.9212609....K6.KGAI:V.K6.HGR:V.K6.TON:V.K6.JHW:A.CY.CYKF

Courses you should take

Great flights...both of them.

To fly within 60 miles of DCA, you're required to take this course:
DC SFRA

And to fly the Hudson Corridor, you are not required, but should take this course:
NY City SFRA

Both courses have nice "kneeboard" sized printouts that are invaluable. The NY City course is one of my favorites...but that's because I wrote it. Perhaps I'm a bit partial

Good luck and fly safe.

Hudson River Video

I flew the Hudson River Corridor in Apr. Very fun flight! Extremely busy with helicopter traffic. Here is a link to the video. Unfortunately it is Northbound but you will get to see the landmarks for the reporting points and hear the transmissions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsY6M3hpkC0

If you time your Hudson cruise later in the evening or early morning you enjoy it even more. No thermals and not a single soul in the airspace of your interest.