NYC Area, which frequency to use for Flight Following?

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sefeing

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sefeing
Brand new PPL here, based out of KFRG and realizing a question that I'd forgotten to ask my CFI, and a question that I'm a little embarrassed to ask because I feel I should know the answer-

During my long XC, I planned a route of KFRG -> KPOU -> KHFD. After taking off from FRG, I tuned into 120.05 to pick up flight following over the Northport stacks (to avoid the Bravo), before turning slightly to the left to head direct to POU. NY Approach on 120.05 had me tune over to another NY approach frequency related to LGA, as I was outside of their airspace/sector and my route took me away from (may have been 120.8, but I can't exactly remember).

When looking at the chart supplement for LGA, there isn't a delineation I can find between 120.05 and 120.8, and when viewing frequencies directly in foreflight, there are a handful without specific uses cases - so in this case, how should I have determined the appropriate approach freq to use to pick up FF? Or should I have looked slightly further up my route near HPN, since 120.8 applies there as well?
 
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are you not able to arrange FF with FRG before you even depart?
 
sefeing said:
how should I have determined the appropriate approach freq to use to pick up FF?
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Try the NY departure frequencies listed in ForeFlight (125.7, 123.7, 134.35), or (your CFI may not have taught you this) flip over to the IFR chart to find a center frequency (132.3, 134.0).

Congrats on your ticket and welcome to PoA!
 
Where did you get 120.05? The KFRG chart supplement page shows 125.7 as the departure frequency.
 
eman1200 said:
I'm assuming he grabbed it from here:
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Ah, I see. That frequency is actually for KISP. Sometimes it can be difficult trying to figure out which frequency to use especially in a busy area like this. I recommend using the frequency from the chart supplement for the departure airport (or closest airport at the time of contact) as I wrote above.
 
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dmspilot said:
Ah, I see. That frequency is actually for KISP. Sometimes it can be difficult trying to figure out which frequency to use especially in a busy area like this. I recommend using the frequency from the chart supplement for the departure airport (or closest airport at the time of contact) as I wrote above.
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Correct for both, since I've picked up FF from them when heading eastbound along the coast (realizing why picking up northbound doesn't work on this freq), but I appreciate the help - departure freq. from KFRG makes the most sense in this case :)
 
sefeing said:
Brand new PPL here, based out of KFRG and realizing a question that I'd forgotten to ask my CFI, and a question that I'm a little embarrassed to ask because I feel I should know the answer-

During my long XC, I planned a route of KFRG -> KPOU -> KHFD. After taking off from FRG, I tuned into 120.05 to pick up flight following over the Northport stacks (to avoid the Bravo), before turning slightly to the left to head direct to POU. NY Approach on 120.05 had me tune over to another NY approach frequency related to LGA, as I was outside of their airspace/sector and my route took me away from (may have been 120.8, but I can't exactly remember).

When looking at the chart supplement for LGA, there isn't a delineation I can find between 120.05 and 120.8, and when viewing frequencies directly in foreflight, there are a handful without specific uses cases - so in this case, how should I have determined the appropriate approach freq to use to pick up FF? Or should I have looked slightly further up my route near HPN, since 120.8 applies there as well?
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Approach Sector boundaries aren’t published so it’s a best guess. Make that best ‘educated’ guess. There is some good education in the posts above. If you don’t get Flight Following pre arranged like mentioned above you can just ask the Tower “what is the Approach frequency here.” You could get that from Ground. ‘Ground, I’m going north, what’s the Approach freq up that way.’
 
I've had similar questions when trying to seek a Bravo transition clearance coming from KBLM in New Jersey flying Northeast to the Boston area. McGuire Approach (the departure contact/frequency for KBLM) often prefers that I pick up a flight following code directly from NY Approach so that I can make my transition request at the same time. Finding (or remembering) the right frequency to call NY escaped me, but during my last attempt I wrote down the NY Approach frequency (120.85) that McGuire recommended I try. (If I decide I'm just going to fly NW and then around the Bravo for weather or other reasons, I'll get my flight following from McGuire; and occasionally I've flown the 500' beach transition eastbound under the Bravo shelf (and talking to JFK tower)).
 
You can call up any of the frequencies and tell them you want FF to POU and they’ll direct you to the correct frequency.
 
I'm with George. I get my frequencies from Fore Flight. When planning, pull up the airport and get your information on the frequencies (Ground, Tower, ATTIS, Departure, etc.), runways, NOTUMs, TFRs, etc. BTW - you can always ask the ground / and or tower before departure for which freq to use for approach/departure.


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I'm a controller at the NY TRACON, and yeah it can be confusing to find a frequency - especially because the "correct" frequency can be 4+ different things depending on sector splits and runway configurations. As mentioned above, 120.05 is an ISP area frequency, and their airspace starts just east of the FRG delta, which is why most students at FRG use them for flight following in the practice areas, but that's not the right frequency for going north/west. FRG itself is located in the JFK area, and usually the sector controlling directly over FRG would be on 125.7, but it also could be 118.4 or potentially even 135.9 or 128.12. Going north, however, once you get over the shoreline you're going into the LGA area, where it would probably be 120.8, but could also be 134.9 or potentially 120.4. And once you cross the sound, if they're open you might end up with 120.55 or 126.4.

We're all very used to pilots being confused on which frequency to use, so no one should really be giving you trouble for being wrong - hell, we get it wrong ourselves sometimes. We're required to monitor every frequency assigned to our sector, so theoretically we'd hear you regardless of which of those frequencies you picked, but obviously it's easier if you're on the right one so people aren't stepping on eachother. As a general rule for FRG, if you use 120.05 going east, 120.8 going north, and 125.7 going south or west, you'll at least get to the right area, and you'll be on the correct frequency 70% of the time.
 
Normally when you hit the north shore of the island use 124.07, You can always use 125.7 when departing Farmingdale. 120.05 if you are goin east.
 
penaltyvectors said:
I'm a controller at the NY TRACON, and yeah it can be confusing to find a frequency - especially because the "correct" frequency can be 4+ different things depending on sector splits and runway configurations. As mentioned above, 120.05 is an ISP area frequency, and their airspace starts just east of the FRG delta, which is why most students at FRG use them for flight following in the practice areas, but that's not the right frequency for going north/west. FRG itself is located in the JFK area, and usually the sector controlling directly over FRG would be on 125.7, but it also could be 118.4 or potentially even 135.9 or 128.12. Going north, however, once you get over the shoreline you're going into the LGA area, where it would probably be 120.8, but could also be 134.9 or potentially 120.4. And once you cross the sound, if they're open you might end up with 120.55 or 126.4.

We're all very used to pilots being confused on which frequency to use, so no one should really be giving you trouble for being wrong - hell, we get it wrong ourselves sometimes. We're required to monitor every frequency assigned to our sector, so theoretically we'd hear you regardless of which of those frequencies you picked, but obviously it's easier if you're on the right one so people aren't stepping on eachother. As a general rule for FRG, if you use 120.05 going east, 120.8 going north, and 125.7 going south or west, you'll at least get to the right area, and you'll be on the correct frequency 70% of the time.
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This was SO incredibly helpful, thanks so much for this reply, definitely helps me to understand the complex airspace around NYC!
 
sefeing said:
This was SO incredibly helpful, thanks so much for this reply, definitely helps me to understand the complex airspace around NYC!
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I'm not arguing that his info was helpful or not for the local area, but it still sounds like maybe grabbing a half hour with your instructor to go over how to actually find frequencies would be helpful. because soon you'll be going places and you'll need to find freq's in an area you're not familiar with. just a thought, something about teaching a man to fish, blah blah blah....
 
penaltyvectors said:
I'm a controller at the NY TRACON, and yeah it can be confusing to find a frequency - especially because the "correct" frequency can be 4+ different things depending on sector splits and runway configurations. As mentioned above, 120.05 is an ISP area frequency, and their airspace starts just east of the FRG delta, which is why most students at FRG use them for flight following in the practice areas, but that's not the right frequency for going north/west. FRG itself is located in the JFK area, and usually the sector controlling directly over FRG would be on 125.7, but it also could be 118.4 or potentially even 135.9 or 128.12. Going north, however, once you get over the shoreline you're going into the LGA area, where it would probably be 120.8, but could also be 134.9 or potentially 120.4. And once you cross the sound, if they're open you might end up with 120.55 or 126.4.

We're all very used to pilots being confused on which frequency to use, so no one should really be giving you trouble for being wrong - hell, we get it wrong ourselves sometimes. We're required to monitor every frequency assigned to our sector, so theoretically we'd hear you regardless of which of those frequencies you picked, but obviously it's easier if you're on the right one so people aren't stepping on eachother. As a general rule for FRG, if you use 120.05 going east, 120.8 going north, and 125.7 going south or west, you'll at least get to the right area, and you'll be on the correct frequency 70% of the time.
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While were here, someone said above FRG Tower won't coordinate with you guys for Flight Following. Is that them not wanting to bother with it? Is it Approach telling them not to?
 
luvflyin said:
While were here, someone said above FRG Tower won't coordinate with you guys for Flight Following. Is that them not wanting to bother with it? Is it Approach telling them not to?
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They’ve never coordinated with approach. Not really sure why but in my 10 years of flying out of there, that’s just how they operate.
 
eman1200 said:
I'm not arguing that his info was helpful or not for the local area, but it still sounds like maybe grabbing a half hour with your instructor to go over how to actually find frequencies would be helpful. because soon you'll be going places and you'll need to find freq's in an area you're not familiar with. just a thought, something about teaching a man to fish, blah blah blah....
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Totally fair, I am a brand new PPL after all :) - in general, I'm usually fine with finding frequencies (including when there's some sort of notation around heading / direction / time associated that denotes where and when to call), but I was more confused around which of the many frequencies in this specific congested area to hop on for that request, obviously trying to save time on mine & the controllers end by making sure I'm contacting on the most appropriate freq.
 
luvflyin said:
While were here, someone said above FRG Tower won't coordinate with you guys for Flight Following. Is that them not wanting to bother with it? Is it Approach telling them not to?
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FRG tower is not your standard sleepy Class D tower.
 
Lol -- that's for sure. KFRG is way busier than KISP, which is a Charlie.
 
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