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ggroves

ggroves

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Titanium
We're heading to Jones Beach on Friday afternoon the 10th to catch Don Henley and Stevie Nicks.

Any preferences on ISP vs FRG? Right now, I'm leaning towards FRG since we're going to spend Saturday in Manhattan and it's closer.

The TEC pref route from the Washington area would give me a route of:

COGAN WOOLY V214 BAL PALEO V44 DONIL V229 PANZE V44 CAMRN

...the first part added to get us out of KOKV. V44 is mostly over water, which I am OK with. However, I was hoping for a more enjoyable view if the weather is VMC.

The DUATS route is about 18% shorter with:

MRB V3 EMI V419 V210 ARD V445 V123 LGA

...I'm guessing they won't be crazy about this due to arrivals/departures @ TEB, EWR, JFK, and LGA.

Any experiences with flying into the "Island"?

Greg
182RG




 
I gone up that way a few times and have generally gotten V44 or SIE V139. I have heard that it's slightly more difficult to get an ifr clearance out of FRG due to the proximity of JFK but didn't have a problem myself.
 
Of the 1000's of time I have flown between VA or PA to NY I always get V16. This is either IFR or VFR. Almost all GA traffic except twins will be routed over this section of NY as "DIXIE to JFK to DPK" on V16. I kept my plane at FRG & ISP. I liked ISP 1000 times better for many reasons, but FRG is ok for transients. If it is bad WX, FRG is 1 in,1 out & you will be on the ground at the hold short line for a lifetime.

Also If choosing FRG............

1) It helps to brush up on your foreign languages especially Arabic.

2) When the tower guy starts yelling at you & has no idea where you are, or where the other 15 guys landing are, don't worry. He has no idea what is going on & has no identifying radar. He will ask you to IDENT, because that is all he can see on his screen to see who you are & 3 other guys will ident also by mistake & no one will have any idea what is going on. The only pair of binoculars he has in the tower are broken.
I usually call short final & ask if I can get a landing clearance..... The good news is you usually get the landing clearance by the time you are only 1/2 way down the runway & you learn exactly how mush power you have to add to keep the plane from touching the ground while you float down the runway.

3) The choices of FBO's are worse or worser (CHeck www.airnav.com)
---------------------------------------------------------------
ISP is top notch all the way. Mid Island is the FBO to go to.

Good luck
 
If you're flying a single, you get sent to ENO V16/V1 DIXIE JFK direct at 5000, no matter what you file or what you ask for. You can get 7000 by going east all the way out to LEEAH and then V1 JFK, but that's the only alternative.

If you're flying a twin, you get sent east to V44 V184 ZIGGI direct at 9000 or less. Again, take it or leave it.

I've been flying in and out of FRG for 35 years. For a long time, you took Millionaire as the FBO or you went to ISP, and Millionaire treated folks accordingly ("you got no choice, so we'll do what we want and you can stuff your complaints up your nose"). LI Jet moved into the Millionaire north ramp location maybe 8 years ago, and their service has been uniformly superb. There's a new FBO who took over Millionaire's south ramp operation more recently, but I've never tried them and don't feel any reason to fix what ain't broke.

FRG is a shorter drive to the concert venue than ISP. If you can handle the loony traffic situation at FRG, go there and go to LI Jet. Call ahead for your rental car and it will be waiting 50 feet from where you park your plane, and you can drive it right to the baggage door.
 
If you plan on visiting Manhattan, you are prolly better off going to Linden (KLDJ), before or after the concert. It is a short cab/train ride into manhattan. Much shorter than going/coming from FRG. Less hassle and fuel is slightly less expensive.
 
Ron Levy said:
For a long time, you took Millionaire as the FBO or you went to ISP, and Millionaire treated folks accordingly ("you got no choice, so we'll do what we want and you can stuff your complaints up your nose").
Click to expand...
Boy do I agree with this. My Mother in Law lives in Queens, and Millionair was just useless, USELESS, USELESS.
 
I've only been to FRG once and it was pretty awful. After landing, someone came up to the plane and started asking us a bunch of questions... turns out he wasn't from any FBO, he was from airport management or security or something, and wanted our landing fee (right there on the ramp). Thinking (mistakenly) that he was an FBO guy, I asked about getting a ride to the LIRR station, or a cab to the LIRR station. The guy said I should go to the main terminal and call a cab from there. He kindly offered to give me a lift there, which I accepted. Never go to the "main terminal" at FRG--there is absolutely nothing there. There's a desk that might once have served an airline, and a few offices which are empty on the weekends. The place was gutted. I couldn't even find the payphones. Finally a guy in his 70's came wandering through the building, saw that I was confused-looking, and started asking me where I'd come from and where I wanted to go. Turns out he was from the Farmingdale Historical Society. I told him that I'd parked the plane over by somewhere else and that some guy had told me to come here to call a cab. The Historical Society guy was horrified that I had been sent to this building. He wanted to know who had brought me; I tried to describe what the car had looked like. He suggested I call security on a big "red" phone on the wall and have them call the cab for me. I called security--they gave me a phone number and told me to call on a payphone. Eventually, the Historical Society guy kindly offered to just drive me there. He left a short note for the colleague he was expecting to meet, we jumped in his SUV, and he gave me a short historical tour of the town of Farmingdale before dropping me off at the LIRR station.

So, whatever you do, don't let anyone send you to the "main terminal"! Also, I would recommend calling ahead and seeing what's going on there. We happened to arrive on the day of some kind of national jet conference, and both FBO's were packed and going crazy parking airplanes.

--Kath
 
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Thanks all for responding. I'm renting a car to get us to Jones Beach. We're staying at a hotel near Farmingdale for night #1. We're leaving at noon on Friday and the concert starts @ 8, so the closer to JB, the better. If it were just a trip to NYC, I'd use TEB or HPN as I have in the past.

It sounds like there is no problem with getting the Jet Center to give us a lift and picking us up from the LIRR station.

Thanks again. I'll post my experiences next week when I get back.

Greg
182RG
 
Greg: Ron and Eamon are correct you will get Dixie V16 JFK. I have flown that route a few times and that is what they give you. I once tried for LGA and the guy from Philly approach told me in joking kind of way " Well that won't work, in fact that never works" Its kind of a cool route going out over Sandy Hook NJ across the New York Bight you can see NYC off your left side at about 10 O'clock. To my surprise I have found NY ATC to be very friendly and very helpful. Its also kind of cool to see the heavy metal taking off and landing below you. You also get to hear quite a few pilots slaughtering the english language due to all the international traffic flying into JFK. Enjoy and safe flight!
 
You will receive a bill in the mail from NY State for the landing fee at FRG. For a single it was $2.50 last year. You cannot pay this while you are there.

If you don't need fuel or FBO services, you can park without charge on the terminal ramp. Both FBO's will have ramp or parking fees, and the fuel is pricey. The restaurant is adjacent to the terminal.


Jon
 
I use TEB for this sort of trip. Millionaire has always treated me well and on weekends they will waive the overnight fee if you buy gas. Haven't been there in a while though. You'll still get the bill in the mail from the state but its only a few bucks. You can catch a bus into Manhattan close to TEB and Millionaire will give you a ride to the bus stop.
 
kath said:
Never go to the "main terminal" at FRG--there is absolutely nothing there. There's a desk that might once have served an airline, and a few offices which are empty on the weekends.
Click to expand...
Yep, the Main Terminal is only good for two things: A pretty good display of photos of the Republic Aviation factory and their planes (at least they were up the last time I was there, a few years ago), and being a short walk to the 56th Fighter Group, a good restaurant next door.

-Skip
 
Ron Levy said:
That's a long, multimodal trip to Jones Beach.
Click to expand...

I was referencing the Manhattan leg of the trip of a previous post. Should have quoted it.
 
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