New York City from the Air

Today had me all excited: I got to see NYC from the air, and shoot pictures too.

Taking a helicopter flight over the city has been on my bucket list for a long time. Many companies for flights, but little do it as FlyNYON do it. They specialize in flights for photographers. You get to fly with the doors off and your feet outside the aircraft, and take as many photos as you want. They will even let you decide what you wanna see.

After getting a safety briefing, getting your gear secured, you are strapped in and hooked to the back of the aircraft and they take you up for a 30 minute flight that is just awesome! Really awesome. I saw the city like I have never seen it before. And the Hudson River too… When our pilot pitched the aircraft over to the side where I sat over the Hudson River at the Statue of Liberty, it felt like I was flying!

Flying whit FlyNYON is better than any roller coaster.

Shooting turned out to be a lot harder than I expected. Doors off means that you are fully exposed to the environment, the wind, the speed of the aircraft and the down wind from the rotor. But I got a couple of very nice shots.

A few minutes before we were supposed to take of, a call came in from air traffic control: “a VIP arrived in Manhattan. The airspace above Manhattan will be closed.” The VIP turned out to be US Vice President Joe Biden. A closed airspace meant that we could not cross Manhattan, hover near the WTC or Times Square. But to me that turned out to be a blessing. Our pilot took us up the East River as far as the Bronx. And that gave me a chance to take this nice shot of Yankee Stadium.