Narrative:

I purchased the aircraft from a dealer on long island. To clear the new york class B airspace I had initially planned to climb to 10;000 MSL; above the airspace. After talking to the chief pilot and owner at the FBO they explained that a VFR transition existed along the south shoreline of long island. I had seen on the tac(terminal area chart) that it was possible to fly under jfk airspace below 500 ft offshore; but didn't realize it was 'routine'. These pilots said they had flown the route many times and explained how it would work; and gave me the frequencies. After takeoff I contacted ny approach. They gave me a code and advisories & I headed for the south shore. However as I flew west they advised that the next controller wouldn't accept me; squawk VFR and have a nice day. I attempted to contact jfk tower on the frequency the pilots that briefed me had given. After the fact I saw that while that is a jfk tower frequency; the correct frequency for my route of flight was different. I believe that is who ny approach had attempted to hand me off to and wouldn't accept me. In any case; jfk tower wouldn't answer; so I dropped to 300-400 ft to avoid their airspace. At this point my garmin 430 began issuing terrain warnings. I could clear the terrain warnings but they would constantly refresh. Since the warnings brought up a separate screen from the map; this essentially rendered the GPS useless for navigation as well as added a distraction and some stress. However; I had the tac and was in good visual conditions and had clear landmarks for the class B boundaries. At this point another problem arose. It was difficult to avoid flying near boats. I was picking a line to avoid flying over individual boats; however; at one point there; was a line of boats coming into and out of a harbor entrance with not much space in between. I picked the biggest gap and flew through it. Far 91.119(c) says I can't be closer than 500 ft to the boats. In fact that isn't a lot of distance and I'm fairly sure I was further away; although I can't be 100% sure. In any case; I felt like the people in the boats might have thought I was intentionally showing off or buzzing them so it wasn't good from a GA relations point of view. Since I could never contact jfk (due to using the wrong frequency) I flew within the lateral boundaries of the 8 NM ring; but underneath it; without talking to ATC. When briefing me on the route the pilots mentioned that I had to talk to jfk; even outside their airspace; since I would pass within 5 NM of the airport (implying that this was a rule that is true everywhere). I don't remember ever hearing that in any training for the ratings I've received and after the fact; I haven't been able to find any reference to a rule like that in part 91. The chart says 'contact kennedy tower on 125.25 2000' and below with 8 NM of kennedy airport'. However; it's not clear this is a mandatory requirement; vs a note to give the proper frequency if you do want to talk to them. 500-2000' would require actually entering class B; so it would be mandatory to talk to them and get a clearance anyway. So the meaning of that note for my route of flight isn't completely clear to me. I hadn't studied these parts of the tac in great detail since my initial plan up until an hour or so before the flight had been to simply fly over the top of it. I assumed since the pilots who briefed me were experienced in the local area they would get all the details right but it seems that they didn't (wrong frequency at jfk). Additionally; I was somewhat rushed to launch as the weather was deteriorating at my destination. Regardless; as PIC I should have studied the tac more thoroughly to be sure I was familiar with the proper frequencies. Additionally; I should have recognized that the low level flight would trigger terrain warnings and disabled that feature on the preflight. It would be nice if the unit was smart enough to recognize after a constant barrage of warnings and cancellations that the pilot really wants to shut it up; and automatically present that option. I have; in my job; encountered this issue several times where a warning system locks into a constantly refreshing cas / warning message and even when the crew is well aware that it is a nuisance message it adds a significant amount of stress and distraction. Additionally; for this particular issue I'm not totally sure that a pilot could navigate to the appropriate page and shut it down in the heat of the battle; because each time the warning goes off it drags you out of whatever menu you are in. And the amount of in cockpit button mashing time at available at low level is quite limited. I'm also not sure how it's possible to avoid flying near boats while on this route. With more familiarity with the route I may have stayed higher longer; which partially mitigates the problem by at least minimizing the time spent low. Additionally I should have recognized prior to the flight that there would be boats out and about that had to be avoided and be prepared for that.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Sierra pilot describes difficulties encountered transitioning the New York VFR corridor south of JFK airport.

Narrative: I purchased the aircraft from a dealer on Long Island. To clear the New York Class B airspace I had initially planned to climb to 10;000 MSL; above the airspace. After talking to the Chief Pilot and Owner at the FBO they explained that a VFR transition existed along the south shoreline of Long Island. I had seen on the TAC(Terminal Area Chart) that it was possible to fly under JFK airspace below 500 ft offshore; but didn't realize it was 'routine'. These pilots said they had flown the route many times and explained how it would work; and gave me the frequencies. After takeoff I contacted NY Approach. They gave me a code and advisories & I headed for the south shore. However as I flew west they advised that the next Controller wouldn't accept me; squawk VFR and have a nice day. I attempted to contact JFK Tower on the frequency the pilots that briefed me had given. After the fact I saw that while that is a JFK Tower frequency; the correct frequency for my route of flight was different. I believe that is who NY Approach had attempted to hand me off to and wouldn't accept me. In any case; JFK Tower wouldn't answer; so I dropped to 300-400 ft to avoid their airspace. At this point my Garmin 430 began issuing terrain warnings. I could clear the terrain warnings but they would constantly refresh. Since the warnings brought up a separate screen from the map; this essentially rendered the GPS useless for navigation as well as added a distraction and some stress. However; I had the TAC and was in good visual conditions and had clear landmarks for the class B boundaries. At this point another problem arose. It was difficult to avoid flying near boats. I was picking a line to avoid flying over individual boats; however; at one point there; was a line of boats coming into and out of a harbor entrance with not much space in between. I picked the biggest gap and flew through it. FAR 91.119(c) says I can't be closer than 500 ft to the boats. In fact that isn't a lot of distance and I'm fairly sure I was further away; although I can't be 100% sure. In any case; I felt like the people in the boats might have thought I was intentionally showing off or buzzing them so it wasn't good from a GA relations point of view. Since I could never contact JFK (due to using the wrong frequency) I flew within the lateral boundaries of the 8 NM ring; but underneath it; without talking to ATC. When briefing me on the route the pilots mentioned that I had to talk to JFK; even outside their airspace; since I would pass within 5 NM of the airport (implying that this was a rule that is true everywhere). I don't remember ever hearing that in any training for the ratings I've received and after the fact; I haven't been able to find any reference to a rule like that in part 91. The chart says 'contact Kennedy tower on 125.25 2000' and below with 8 NM of Kennedy airport'. However; it's not clear this is a mandatory requirement; vs a note to give the proper frequency if you do want to talk to them. 500-2000' would require actually entering class B; so it would be mandatory to talk to them and get a clearance anyway. So the meaning of that note for my route of flight isn't completely clear to me. I hadn't studied these parts of the TAC in great detail since my initial plan up until an hour or so before the flight had been to simply fly over the top of it. I assumed since the pilots who briefed me were experienced in the local area they would get all the details right but it seems that they didn't (wrong frequency at JFK). Additionally; I was somewhat rushed to launch as the weather was deteriorating at my destination. Regardless; as PIC I should have studied the TAC more thoroughly to be sure I was familiar with the proper frequencies. Additionally; I should have recognized that the low level flight would trigger terrain warnings and disabled that feature on the preflight. It would be nice if the unit was smart enough to recognize after a constant barrage of warnings and cancellations that the pilot really wants to shut it up; and automatically present that option. I have; in my job; encountered this issue several times where a warning system locks into a constantly refreshing CAS / warning message and even when the crew is well aware that it is a nuisance message it adds a significant amount of stress and distraction. Additionally; for this particular issue I'm not totally sure that a pilot could navigate to the appropriate page and shut it down in the heat of the battle; because each time the warning goes off it drags you out of whatever menu you are in. And the amount of in cockpit button mashing time at available at low level is quite limited. I'm also not sure how it's possible to avoid flying near boats while on this route. With more familiarity with the route I may have stayed higher longer; which partially mitigates the problem by at least minimizing the time spent low. Additionally I should have recognized prior to the flight that there would be boats out and about that had to be avoided and be prepared for that.

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.