Whoa.
For the first time in, oh, a little less than five years, my flight into LaGuardia today flew straight up over Manhattan. As in, I looked out my window, and there was the Empire State Building. Like right there.
I’d forgotten that the routing of planes way the heck out over Jersey or Queens was a recent phenomenon. I’d forgotten that there was a time when one could get a pretty much direct aerial view of Central Park from the window of a 737. But today, at least, it’s back.
More from NYC soon.
31 May 2006, 7.29 pm
For many weeks after Sept. 11, all Manhattan airspace was closed off, and I at least become pretty accustomed to the absence of flyovers. But I’ll never forget the day, about six weeks after, that they reopened the airspace, and a passenger jet came swooping over us on Fifth Avenue. Many of us were paralyzed with our necks craned upwards, wondering just where that plane was headed. Eerie.
1 June 2006, 4.57 am
I had the same experience last week. It was pretty amazing before 9/11, but it’s really astonishing now. I couldn’t believe how close we got to the ESB. Bonus points for doing it at sunset.