Possible to live in Manhattan and keep soaring?

One more option:

When I was living on the Upper West Side, I would hop on a commercial
flight and head to the southwest - I kept my glider in El Paso. The
commute wasn't too difficult, but I only got to fly on one or two
weekends a month. Eventually I just moved to El Paso.

Granted, this option isn't realistic for most, but some companies have
commuting options available for their workers. It's worth an inquiry,
at the very least. Remember, it's guaranteed that it won't work if
you never ask!

Chris Fleming
"F2"

Info about the New Jersey club operating at Blairstown, Aero Club
Albatross, can be found he

www.aeroclubalbatross.org

From my own experience as a Manhattanite, I can say that combining
public transportation and carpooling with other pilots and even
walking can work. But none of those compare to a car's
convenience. Definitely hassle-wise and probably financially, I
think I came out ahead by owning and garaging a car in Manhattan
instead of renting, considering how much driving I did to get out of
the city to go flying and do many other things. Granted, I did it
with a cheap car and one of the cheapest garages I could find .

YMMV,
John Whitney


On Feb 26, 5:00 pm, "Papa3" wrote:
On Feb 26, 4:25 pm, "fbrahic" wrote:

I'm considering moving to Manhattan at some point in the future, and
was wondering if there's anyone here who knows what it's like to keep
soaring while living there?

I've noticed there are a couple of clubs on Long Island, but I'm not
sure how long it takes to get there from Manhattan, or what the
soaring conditions are like.

Any input is appreciated!

Just in case others may be interested, I'm responding to the group
instead of directly to the author. I get about 2 or 3 requests like
this each year, so maybe I can head off some future requests.

The answer to your question is "it depends." As long as you're
willing to set aside the better part of a full day, it's doable.
Secondly, you either need to own a car (read have a lot of $$ to keep
it in NYC) or be willing to rent. Though I have seen people make it
work using mass transit, it's not for the faint of heart.

In terms of sites, there are several options. These include:

- New York State. In addition to the Long Island operations you
mentioned, there are very good options in Middletown and Wurtsboro,
usually referred to as southern New York State. These are probably
1.5-2 hours away depending on traffic and how you get out of
Manhattan.
- New Jersey. Again, depending on where you are in Manhattan,
locations in NJ can actually be relatively easy to get to. The
closest (Somerset) is probably 1 hour from the mouth of the Holland
Tunnel without traffic. The other major operation (Blairstown) is
much larger and features good ridge soaring, but it is more like 1.5
hours.
- Pennsylvania. Believe it or not, the operation at Van Sant airport
is also "only" about 1.5 hours from the mouth of the Holland
Tunnel.

The good news is that, if you are like most people, this will be a
weekend activity, so the outbound leg (ie. getting out of Manhattan)
shouldn't be too bad. Coming home, even on a weekend, can be a bit
arduous.

I frequently would spend Friday night in the city and still be able to
get to Blairstown or Van Sant in time to assemble my ship and launch
by late morning.

Please feel free to contact me directly for a more in-depth review.

Good luck

Erik Mann
LS8-18 (P3)
SSA State Governor NJ

We have several members that live in the city.

www.valleysoaring.org

Philadelphia Glider Council is about 13 miles away from Van Sant which
has already been mentioned. We have two members who live in Manhattan
and several more who live in North Jersey and work in the City. It's
certainly a full day committment, but some find it workable. Try
http://www.pgcsoaring.org/ for details.

Bob