Narrative:

The flight was a photo mission over manhattan pre-arranged with laguardia tower. I was briefed that the mission was to take photographs of a building that was off the east river just south of the un building. The photographer had faxed the position of the building to lga tower and I had personally called to verify with N90 and lga tower that there would be no conflict. Lga tower gave us permission for the mission. The photographer had stated prior to departing that the photo could be taken from the east river. Cleared into the class B airspace at 1500MSL we crossed over central park and was cleared down the east river and to report on station. At that point; the photographer stated he wanted to circle the building; which he had not indicated during our preflight discussion. He was sitting in the right seat; which would require right circles. At that point we were abeam the station over the east river and with that request to circle; I knew we needed to go higher to maintain required obstacle clearances. Lga tower then handed us off to ewr tower and we made our request with them for higher and were cleared back up the east river talking now to lga tower at 2000MSL. At that point the photographer told me to make right hand circles around the station. I proceeded to turn in over manhattan then realized our proximity to the empire state and chrysler building. Knowing those were closer than our 1000 ft vertical clearance requirements for congested areas; I immediately turned back toward the east river before I got near them and stated to the photographer we would be unable to circle. He was quite upset. I then requested from lga tower that we turn back south on the east river and cut over south of midtown to get pictures close to what was required. During that period of quick discussion and requests; my altitude deviated +/- 250 ft from our assigned 2000 MSL. We did several passes like that and even requested up to 2500 MSL to try to circle at our requested station. At that point there was a long pause from lga tower as we went north up the hudson. I realized I was pushing to hard for this. I then requested to check out over yonkers and fly up towards stamford. I was quite rattled at that point. I've only flown in the ny class B for about a year now and have done photo missions before; but never over manhattan. I had thought my preflight planning and talks with both N90 and lga tower had given me enough information but it proved to not be enough. During our flight back I had trouble concentrating and the whole situation kept playing over in my head. We were now under the class B north of the bronx and I even had trouble holding my altitude to stay under it. Upon return I walked into my boss's office and told him I'd never do a photo flight again. The risk of busting altitude; obstacle clearances; and startling people in manhattan are too great and I wish I would have realized this before I departed. I told the photographer when we left that if he wanted a shoot like that again; he'd need to get a helicopter since we just aren't maneuverable enough to make those flights. If I would have to make a suggestion so as not to have this happen to anybody else; stick to your briefing and make sure you don't let the job get in the way of what you briefed. If they request something new during the flight; tell the customer that it's too late to change plans. In the future; I've chosen not to even accept photo flights.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: C172 pilot describes how the requirements of a photo mission abeam buildings in midtown Manhattan is altered by the photographer once airborne; making it difficult to impossible for a fixed wing aircraft to accomplish.

Narrative: The flight was a photo mission over Manhattan pre-arranged with LaGuardia tower. I was briefed that the mission was to take photographs of a building that was off the East River just south of the UN Building. The photographer had faxed the position of the building to LGA Tower and I had personally called to verify with N90 and LGA Tower that there would be no conflict. LGA tower gave us permission for the mission. The photographer had stated prior to departing that the photo could be taken from the East River. Cleared into the Class B airspace at 1500MSL we crossed over Central Park and was cleared down the East River and to report on station. At that point; the photographer stated he wanted to circle the building; which he had not indicated during our preflight discussion. He was sitting in the right seat; which would require right circles. At that point we were abeam the station over the east river and with that request to circle; I knew we needed to go higher to maintain required obstacle clearances. LGA Tower then handed us off to EWR tower and we made our request with them for higher and were cleared back up the east river talking now to LGA Tower at 2000MSL. At that point the photographer told me to make right hand circles around the station. I proceeded to turn in over Manhattan then realized our proximity to the Empire State and Chrysler building. Knowing those were closer than our 1000 FT vertical clearance requirements for congested areas; I immediately turned back toward the East River before I got near them and stated to the photographer we would be unable to circle. He was quite upset. I then requested from LGA Tower that we turn back south on the East River and cut over south of Midtown to get pictures close to what was required. During that period of quick discussion and requests; my altitude deviated +/- 250 FT from our assigned 2000 MSL. We did several passes like that and even requested up to 2500 MSL to try to circle at our requested station. At that point there was a long pause from LGA Tower as we went north up the Hudson. I realized I was pushing to hard for this. I then requested to check out over Yonkers and fly up towards Stamford. I was quite rattled at that point. I've only flown in the NY Class B for about a year now and have done photo missions before; but never over Manhattan. I had thought my preflight planning and talks with both N90 and LGA Tower had given me enough information but it proved to not be enough. During our flight back I had trouble concentrating and the whole situation kept playing over in my head. We were now under the Class B north of the Bronx and I even had trouble holding my altitude to stay under it. Upon return I walked into my boss's office and told him I'd never do a photo flight again. The risk of busting altitude; obstacle clearances; and startling people in Manhattan are too great and I wish I would have realized this before I departed. I told the photographer when we left that if he wanted a shoot like that again; he'd need to get a helicopter since we just aren't maneuverable enough to make those flights. If I would have to make a suggestion so as not to have this happen to anybody else; stick to your briefing and make sure you don't let the job get in the way of what you briefed. If they request something new during the flight; tell the customer that it's too late to change plans. In the future; I've chosen not to even accept photo flights.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.