To the Empire State: KLM 643 – AMS to JFK
This time it’s long-haul flying again. I don’t know how often I have crossed the Atlantic in the Sim already, but it must have been a lot! Actually it’s one of my favorite routes to fly between North America and Europe. Even better that I could do it in a Boeing 747-400 this time. In KLM colors this bird just looks fantastic!
The flight was relatively routine, except that we got the Canarsie / Parkway Visual approach into 13L in JFK. So get ready for a little bit of Kai Tak-Feeling in NYC! 
This time it’s a lot of pictures again. And I included some pictures from my first visit to the Big Apple from 2010. Went there again last year, and it already felt like the city has changed so much in the meantime. I love New York, but I wouldn’t wanna live there. Last time I was actually very happy when I got off the Greyhound bus in the middle of the night back in DC, where the streets are wider and not as crowded as in NYC.
Here’s the flight info.
Take-Off in Amsterdam will be on 36C. Soon we’ll head out into the North Sea, fly over Central UK (a little North of Manchester), enter Northern Irish airspace, and then follow NAT D over the Pond. After that we’ll fly down the coast, over Bangor and West of Boston, before landing in JFK via the Parkway Visual approach into 13L.
Before we start with the pictures, here’s a little Cockpit video I created. Still have some issues with Fraps. When I fly in the sim, it’s smooth as it can be. But when I record the FSRecorder replays with Fraps, it stutters from time to time.
Welcome aboard. The Business Class looks quite comfortable!
This is the special docking system they have in Amsterdam. 2 Jetways connect to the plane, one is hanging on some interesting construction over the wing.
Weather looks nice. 18°C and friendly skies.
After a while we’re ready for Pushback. There’s nothing comparable to the Queen of the Skies. Most beautiful plane ever built, if you ask me – and a joy to fly.
This one is christened Orlando.
On our way to 36C. Lots of MD-11′s around.
Can’t get enough of this view, especially in this livery.
Wow. This really shows how huge the 747 is. When I’m sitting in a 737 I usually feel like sitting in a huge plane, but from this flight deck it looks like a toy plane.
We’re cleared for take-off!
Rotate.
And off we go.
There’s the Dutch coast already.
Beautiful.
Climbing through the clouds. Our initial Cruise altitude will be FL340. Later on we will step climb to 36,000 ft and 38,000 ft.
2,974 nm to go. We’re East of Manchester at this point.
Leaving the UK.
I wouldn’t mind this leg room on my real flights…
On our way.
After some more hours we almost reached Boston. Only 186 nm to go now to New York City.
The airspace really gets busy here.
Descending.
Closing in. We have to head back off-shore in order to fly the Parkway Visual.
We’re very lucky and get this breathtaking view of Manhattan and its skyline to our left, as we’re over Jamaica Bay.
The critical point during the Parkway Visual is the short turn onto runway heading. We have to keep East of the Parkway the whole time, as you can see in this approach chart.
On Final.
And from the outside it looks like this.
We’ve mastered this approach and now it’s time to taxi to the International Gates.
So much interesting traffic around here.
At the gate.
Shutdown complete.
And EK A380 can be seen in the background.
If you look above the roof of the Terminal, you can see the skyline on the horizon. In the center of the picture is the new One World Trade Center / Freedom Tower.
That’s the end of the virtual part of this report. Here’s some real pictures I took in NYC and on my flight to JFK from DUS with Air Berlin in 2010. It was an A330-200.
Take a close look and you can see the skyline of Manhattan on the horizon.
Normal traffic here.
That’s the spot where the EK A380 was parked in the Sim. And the LY 744 is also there.
DAL 767 with Winglets.
Arik Air, Singapore Airlines, Swiss, TAM…a truly International airport.
After deboarding I passed this AAL 777 in OneWorld colors. Nice!
On the way to Manhattan, Queensboro Bridge if I’m not mistaken.
Most beautiful building here, the Chrysler building.
Three for the price of one: cab, NYPD cruiser and MetLife building (former PanAm HQ).
Times Square.
I honestly don’t wanna drive a car around here. And certainly not a van!
Taken from the Staten Island Ferry. New Jersey to the left, Manhattan straight ahead and Brooklyn/Queens to the right.
Lower Manhattan and the Financial District.
Classic shot. The Brooklyn Bridge.
And the view from the rooftop terrace at my hotel. No better way to end a day in NYC than with a cold beer, sitting on this rooftop!
AA is advertising its Miami flights on this cab. Might go there soon in the Sim, maybe from DCA.
View from the Rockefeller Center.
And Central Park to the other side.
We’ve reached the end of this real report at this point. On the flight back the weather was not as nice as all the time before. But this AF A380 just had arrived and made my waiting time at the gate a little more exciting.
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed!
Again the real world shots are great Max! As are the sim ones of course. Last time I did the Canarsie 13R approach last summer with DLH404 out of EDDF.
Thanks Al! You mean in the Sim or on the real DLH404?
Btw this is a great video of an American MD-11 doing the Canarsie 13L back in the day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EQ9-m-nuPI
Nice report. The queen of the skies is a nice looking bird indeed! I agree, flying TATLs is fun. I flew with one of these Emirates whales earliert his year! Looking forward to the next part. Cheers, Sveinn
Thanks Sveinn! Did you like the A380? I think it’s ugly as **** but it has something to it. And I heard it’s really comfortable on board.
But I’d take the Queen of the Skies over it any time. Even though I haven’t flown on either sadly. There’s actually three planes I need to fly on some time: 747, MD-11 and the Whalejet…but for the latter I will have some more time, as they won’t be retired any time soon.
No, in the sim Max! Great video of the MD-11, old bitchin betty sounds so awesome. I did land at KJFK this spring tho….
Yeah, you’re right. Those “old” birds were just in a class of their own. Luckily I’m old enough to still remember the airports packed with a variety of different aircraft. Loud, noisy and gas guzzling. But they had character. These days it’s all Airbus and Boeing. While they are technically remarkable, they look boring and often the same…but you don’t earn money by looking good – at least not as an aircraft
Great video of your landing at JFK. There’s nothing like spotting that skyline on the horizon. Doesn’t matter if you’re arriving by plane or by car…