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Gotham 7.5K: A Rare High Altitude Night Flight Above NYC

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Re: Gotham 7.5K: A Rare High Altitude Night Flight Above NYC

#61

Post by sokoloff »

ganeumann wrote: post #60
larrys wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How difficult is it to get clearance to fly a helicopter or airplane over Manhattan as they did? It seems like an unnecessary risk given the population density. For that matter wouldn't it be possible for a terrorist to get approval by creating a ruse of a legitimate (but non essential) reason?

NY ATC hates giving VFR clearance in the area. Too much jet traffic to deal with. If you can get a word in edgewise, they'll often let you out over NJ (watch out for the Teterboro jets!) but I never see anyone heading out over Manhattan. You need to be above 2000' to be legal because of the height of the buildings and then you're starting to get into the altitudes the jets are using on approach to JFK or LGA. Over th…

That's not been my experience. I can regularly get my choice of the Hudson at 2000 or lower with a clearance (1100-2000 requires a clearance in most places). At night, I prefer lower as the buildings are more impressive when you're below the top of them. On a nice summer day, the VFR corridor can be a zoo, so I'll sometimes take the clearance at 1500 just to stay in less congested airspace.

If LGA is landing 13 or Newark is using 11/29, then you have a conflict with the airspace over the river, but it's very rare for Newark to use 11/29, and LGA traffic counts aren't all that high to present a conflict. Plus, if you're on a clearance and being controlled by LGA tower, they'll turn you if they need to to accommodate a departure or an arrival.

I often hear pilots complain they can't get a clearance through NYC Bravo airspace, but I've only once been turned down in probably 50 attempts. That was a Thanksgiving Wednesday when they had a radar outage and they were turning everyone away who wasn't landing inside the Bravo. I've found NYC tri-Bravo controllers some of the easiest and most accommodating approach controllers to work with.

Re: Gotham 7.5K: A Rare High Altitude Night Flight Above NYC

#62

Post by thesagan »

HCIdivision17 wrote: post #22

The images truly are breathtaking. His note about the streets seeming like neurons is interesting, but I hope I'm not the only person who immediately thought the shots resembled an exaggerated extruded version of a chip's layered layout. (Here's sort of a small version: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/Cell-Proc... ) It's a bit odd: the scale of the city is not quite large enough to look like a mode…

Another breathtaking "circuit board" is Los Angeles -- at night. I immediately likened what I saw to a glowing circuit board without thinking twice. What a resemblance! Very computational.

Flying in from the east, descending over Riverside and heading towards LAX, presents an absolutely astonishing view below. Lit up in orderly sequence are a vast range of square blocks, freeway arteries, commercial corridors, and industrial complexes housing warehouse "chips" that are eerily reminiscent of a giant, organically-built, human-habitable computer. Tron-style. Hardly an end in sight if the weather works it out.

All breathtakingly illuminated in varying, relative intensity and motion (streetlamps, autos, traffic signals, spotlights, etc.), "powering" the whole damn machine of a human ant colony with electric life.

Please excuse my poor attempt at a poetic description, I have not been able to find a proper photo to share here, yet.

Re: Gotham 7.5K: A Rare High Altitude Night Flight Above NYC

#63

Post by sokoloff »

smackfu wrote: post #43
sokoloff wrote: post #33

One of my favorite things to do with new passengers is take them up and down the Hudson River corridor, an airspace that "tunnels through" the more tightly controlled airspaces of Newark and Laguardia. From the Verrazanno Bridge up the Manhattan side of the river at 1000 feet and exiting over the Tappan Zee (or vice versa, southbound on the Jersey side, or a round trip) is unforgettable for passengers. These images a…

In a small plane or a helicopter?

Small plane.

Re: Gotham 7.5K: A Rare High Altitude Night Flight Above NYC

#64

Post by sokoloff »

larrys wrote: post #56
davidwihl wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It isn't particularly difficult for a small aircraft, provided airline traffic isn't too busy. NYC ATC is usually pretty accommodating. There are helicopters constantly buzzing the city. Note that the terror threat is very small since the payload of these light aircraft is significantly less than driving a truck full of explosives at street level. Think typically less than 1,000 lbs vs 20,000 lbs.

Good point. Of course if they managed to get a hold of a Chinook they could do much more weight: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_CH-47_Chinook They actually use something like this to hoist HVAC units on roofs (so it's not a total stretch). I was thinking also more in terms of the "terrorism" value of crashing anything of any size into a building in Manhattan vs. the raw damage. Of course airplanes of all sizes a…

Corey Lidle did it in Manhattan (accidentally), and someone did it intentionally in Austin a few years' back: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Austin_suicide_attack

It's just not that effective a means, even of terror, IMO. A rented truck, or a stolen delivery truck, would be wildly more effective.

Re: Gotham 7.5K: A Rare High Altitude Night Flight Above NYC

#65

Post by cranklin »

davidw wrote: post #26
uptown wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The FAA says 400 ft. for UAV.

Idle curiosity: I wonder how high a hobbyist unit could fly straight up before running out of batteries.

above the clouds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAoSHxzEcT4

Re: Gotham 7.5K: A Rare High Altitude Night Flight Above NYC

#66

Post by ars »

nikanj wrote: post #24
mlrtime wrote: post #2

I'm sure many would love to get high-res versions of these pics, any chance he'll make them available?

http://pastebin.com/m0ww3pGK

You should not run all those in parallel. It's rude.

To anyone who wants to use that script: Remove the & on line 9.

Re: Gotham 7.5K: A Rare High Altitude Night Flight Above NYC

#67

Post by larrys »

sokoloff wrote: post #61
ganeumann wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NY ATC hates giving VFR clearance in the area. Too much jet traffic to deal with. If you can get a word in edgewise, they'll often let you out over NJ (watch out for the Teterboro jets!) but I never see anyone heading out over Manhattan. You need to be above 2000' to be legal because of the height of the buildings and then you're starting to get into the altitudes the jets are using on approach to JFK or LGA. Over th…

That's not been my experience. I can regularly get my choice of the Hudson at 2000 or lower with a clearance (1100-2000 requires a clearance in most places). At night, I prefer lower as the buildings are more impressive when you're below the top of them. On a nice summer day, the VFR corridor can be a zoo, so I'll sometimes take the clearance at 1500 just to stay in less congested airspace. If LGA is landing 13 or Ne…

Total envy that you (and the parent commenter) actually get to do this type of thing. (Meaning fly private planes or helis).

Re: Gotham 7.5K: A Rare High Altitude Night Flight Above NYC

#68

Post by larrys »

sokoloff wrote: post #64
larrys wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good point. Of course if they managed to get a hold of a Chinook they could do much more weight: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_CH-47_Chinook They actually use something like this to hoist HVAC units on roofs (so it's not a total stretch). I was thinking also more in terms of the "terrorism" value of crashing anything of any size into a building in Manhattan vs. the raw damage. Of course airplanes of all sizes a…

Corey Lidle did it in Manhattan (accidentally), and someone did it intentionally in Austin a few years' back: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Austin_suicide_attack It's just not that effective a means, even of terror, IMO. A rented truck, or a stolen delivery truck, would be wildly more effective.

In aviation is there an implied "see something say something"? By that I mean if you thought a pilot was acting strangely when you were in and around the airport how would you or other pilot's handle the situation? (I know it's a total "it depends" obviously.)

Re: Gotham 7.5K: A Rare High Altitude Night Flight Above NYC

#69

Post by sokoloff »

larrys wrote: post #67
sokoloff wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not been my experience. I can regularly get my choice of the Hudson at 2000 or lower with a clearance (1100-2000 requires a clearance in most places). At night, I prefer lower as the buildings are more impressive when you're below the top of them. On a nice summer day, the VFR corridor can be a zoo, so I'll sometimes take the clearance at 1500 just to stay in less congested airspace. If LGA is landing 13 or Ne…

Total envy that you (and the parent commenter) actually get to do this type of thing. (Meaning fly private planes or helis).

Shoot me an email (in my profile)

Re: Gotham 7.5K: A Rare High Altitude Night Flight Above NYC

#70

Post by ssully »

nichochar wrote: post #46

I would love to purchase these in high res and frame them, where can I do that?

The photographer mentioned in the comments that they are working on it now. They should be up at the site below, or if you are impatient you can use the contact form to ask.

http://fineart.laforetvisuals.com/

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