Thomas J. Paladino Jr. wrote:

There is a self-announce procedure
for VFR ops, and most pilots request some kind of flight following during
the ride as well, just to be on the safe side.

These - self announce vs. flight following - are mutually exclusive (at
least at the same time). You'd self announce in the "vfr corridor" (called
by the controllers an "exclusion zone"). Fly actually in the class B, and
you can get FF.

I've done both. In fact, I did both once on a single trip: I picked up FF
starting with Teterboro tower, was handed off to LGA and stayed with them.
I went down the Hudson to somewhere around central part, turned left to
overfly the park, and then went down to the Battery. I turned back up, and
headed back up the Hudson.

Then I dropped a few hundred feet and did the Hudson part again w/o FF.

That's a significant difference: you cannot overfly Manhatten itself w/o a
clearance. At least when I did it, it was no big deal and LGA was very
accomodating. In fact, she even told me she was working nobody else at the
time (my own controller!).

There is also a permanant TFR in the direct
vicinity of the Statue of Liberty.

Long gone.

And before you even attempt such a
flight, make sure that the President isn't in town, or there isn't any
heightened security in the city; city-wide TFRs pop up all the time.

Good advice, but don't let it scare you. These are actually pretty rare
(although with the Republican convention coming, we can expect some
turmoil). There's currently a small TFR nearby for an airshow over Jones
beach.

As for which airport to tie-down at, there is only one uncontrolled field
in the the vast NYC class B (Linden, NJ-- LDJ). So unless you don't mind a
2+hour commute into Manhattan from your tie-down, you're going to have to
land at a controlled field (at least Class D).

Or use Linden. My club has a couple of aircraft there. While I've only
used it a few times, the experience has always been pleasant. Just have a
*lot* of patience if the wind requires a departure on 9 and you're
departing IFR.

One concern with Linden: it is not manned 24x7. Contact the FBO for more
information.

Teterboro is the closest GA
airport to Manhattan (like 20 minutes), but it has a tricky arrival
procedure (especially if you were hoping for an uncontrolled field), so it
may not be your first choice.

I believe that Linden is a short cab ride from a quick rail trip into the
city. This gets you into Midtown. I suspect that this is more convenient
for Midtown (and Downtown) than Teterboro.

Caldwell is a poor choice given ground transport unless you arrange
something ahead of time. But you can do so. They've even rental cars on
the field (last time I checked) at Mac Dac (one of the FBOs there).

You can get to Teterboro, Caldwell, or Linden w/o speaking to TRACON. But
that involves (in my opinion) extra work for a visitor. If you can get
advisories en route, and then handed off to New York, it'll make life a
little easier for you.

VFR services, though, are not always available (I listened to a TRACON
controller quickly change from light to heavy load this morning, and she -
correctly - started brushing off the VFRs). So have a backup plan Just In
Case.

- Andrew