Flying here is (surprisingly) legal

It was a 50/50 shot between this title and "Flying here feels like it should be illegal, but it's not." The double negative seemed worse somehow.

"It's not necessarily hard, it's just not forgiving" is a quote I really like. I feel like that's true for a lot of things in life.

Something about the concept of 'Flying near Manhattan freely' feels a bit weird after a certain event in Manhattan a couple decades back.

I found it amusing knowing that while you were circling the Empire State Building filming, people on the observation deck were undoubtedly filming you!

That fly around of the Empire State Building looked amazing in camera, couldn't imagine what the scale would have felt like in real life.

I like the cheeky grin Tom had when he said “you can’t fly over the city. Unless”

I didn’t realize how low Tom was until he said they were about half way up the Freedom Tower. Then I realized they’re cruising at 1,100 feet and that towers spire tops out at a very symbolic 1,776 feet. Crazy stuff.

I made this flight myself, while I was working on my commercial. The views were incredible, you could practically see people working at their desks in the buildings. I'm happy to be flying larger aircraft and getting paid for it instead of the other way around but I do sometimes miss ripping around the friendly skies in the old Warrior with my friends. Highly recommend it to any recreational pilots out there!

As someone who has lived around and in the NYC Metro area my entire life, I was always curious about how there were so many helis and low-flying planes up and down the Hudson on a regular basis. This explains a lot.

I lived in NY for almost 20 years. Getting low flying helicopters is extremely common above the rivers and even parts of Manhattan, but I don’t think I’ve ever noticed cesnas running circles above the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building. Super cool video, thanks!

5:12 "Unless they are qualified, competent, and have cleared it with air traffic control in advance" the smirk at the end is great

For those who are wondering why the pilot periodically makes a radio transmission at regular intervals, even though "no one is going to respond to them", it's not because no one is going to respond to them. It's to let other pilots know they're there. Things can get busy in the cockpit, and most aircraft flying in the uncontrolled airspace don't have radar and aircraft detection/avoidance systems that the commercial jets rely on. And, as the video shows, it's not that no one is going to respond. If there's an aircraft in the area (as was the helicopter part way to the Hudson Bay), they should respond back to let you know they see you (as did the helicopter).

Tom, just like you can legally fly up and down the Hudson and around the Statue of Liberty, you can also rent a kayak from the marina just behind the big clock you saw, and paddle out to and around Statue of Liberty. Whole different perspective, just as cool of an adventure.

When I was in college and shortly thereafter, I would regularly fly the Hudson River corridor. I especially loved flying that area at night. What was especially nifty was the way the heat of the city would create convection and interact with humidity in the air. I remember seeing a thin layer of fog, 'draped' over the buildings and lit from below, as if someone had spread a thin silk over the entire city. -Jon

Seriously, half the beauty of these videos is watching Tom's reactions. Just his general excitement, and enjoyment is contagious. He genuinely is intrigued by everything he does, or where he visits.

As a general aviation pilot, this video made me really happy! He explained it really well. Props to the pilot, seems like a good knowledge guy. It really goes to show just how much freedom general aviation "small plane" pilots have in the United States. There's so much we can do within reason that a lot of people don't really understand that it can almost be like driving a car in the air in terms of freedom to navigate. On top of that we get to bring our passengers and show them these amazing views without having to go through an entire legal process... flying is awesome here.

Gotta love these little oddities in legalities that lets things like this happen

i could just imagine if there was oncoming traffic and he just shouts into the mic "HEY, WATCH WHERE YOUS GOIN, IM FLYIN HEA"

Thank you, Tom, for bringing back some fond memories. My Dad was a private pilot, and I got my ticket when I turned 17. Shortly after that--would have been 1977 or so--we flew the family Cessna 182 up the Hudson River Corridor. Dad had never done it before, but he planned everything carefully. We took off from Linden Airport in New Jersey, just south of Newark, and flew north past Manhattan. The Twin Towers were still new, and they certainly towered over our four-seat, single-engine Cessna. Dad and I had a grand time, while my mother and sister in the back were quietly praying that nothing would go wrong. Of course, everybody was always looking for other air traffic. I remember it as being a lot busier than on your flight, with planes going past below us as well as above us. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I'm so happy to see that it's still possible. Thanks again!

I remember flying a Cessna 172 over Niagara Falls back in the late 1980s. It was the same kind of system, except that it had reserved altitudes for different types of aircraft. Helicopters had the bottom rung (0 to 1500 feet or so, as I recall) light fixed wing were the next rung, and large high performance aircraft had the top rung (ie: passenger jets). The problem was always the idiot sightseeing flight pilots in the helicopters would constantly pop up into the fixed wing circuit, causing us to frantically dodge them. When I heard later that two choppers had collided and crashed, it wasn’t a surprise at all. Interesting video