NYC/Hudson VFR Corridor...finally!

I've been a pilot for a number of years, now. The first flight in a GA
airplane I took as a passenger - the trip that flipped me over into
learning to fly - included a trip down the Hudson corridor. I've been
wanting to do this for a while myself.

I was in the air with my wife, with the trip planned. But we decided to do
something else given the poor visibility. "Next week", we agreed. That
was September 10, 2001.

Then there was IFR training, trips to take, club checkouts to fly...

Today, I found myself at Linden airport with a need to fly to Caldwell. I'd
just come down under the class B shelf, I'd already flown the GSP
transition...hey, why not the corridor?

So off I went.

I did experience a bit of concern, realizing that I'd not checked with FSS
for the latest Bush/Cheney/&Friends report. But a quick chat on 122.2
solved that (and got the "all clear" with my tail number on tape, Just In
Case {8^).

And north I went.

It was fun, but crowded. And those helicopters are either not watching, or
very daring. One climbed past my 2 o'clock quite close to me. No
announcement, either. A little unnerving.

The bridges seemed awfully high!

Next time, I might try it higher (ie. in the class B). Who would I speak
to? LGA's tower at the north end, or EWR's tower down south? Which
frequency? 118.3 for EWR (I think)?

Normally, I'd start with approach and let them transition me. But, starting
from Linden, I was practically on top of EWR. So I'm not sure.

BTW, when I got back to CDW, my CFII and a friend working on his rating were
landing. So I popped in at the FBO to say "hi". I explained what I'd just
done...and my CFII was somewhat disapproving. He doesn't like the
corridor, apparently, with all the crowded (and uncontrolled!) traffic.

The perfect CF-*double*-I! laugh

- Andrew