📷 Cover photo by Anjali M., shared with their review
From curious to captivated
There is a particular kind of courage it takes to walk onto a ramp at a small New Jersey airport, climb into a four-seat airplane, and put your hands on the controls for the first time. Most people spend years thinking about it before they ever do it. Anjali M. decided October 2026 was the month she would stop wondering.
She booked an intro flying lesson with Azzurra City Tours out of Linden Airport, just minutes from Manhattan, and flew with Captain Rafa in our Piper Cherokee PA-28. What she expected, by her own account, was something intimidating. What she got was something altogether warmer.
A huge shoutout to Ash as well. You can really tell how much he cares about creating a great experience for his customers and building a welcoming environment around aviation. They both made what could have been an intimidating experience feel fun and approachable.
If you've ever been curious about learning to fly or just want to experience what it's like to be in the cockpit, I'd absolutely recommend Azzurra. I had such a great time and would definitely come back! — Anjali M.
Why the first flight matters so much
Anjali put her finger on something we think about constantly. Aviation can feel like a closed club, full of acronyms and checklists and people who already know what they're doing. The barrier is rarely ability. It's the feeling that you don't belong in the left seat yet.
That's why the briefing comes before the flying. Captain Rafa walks through the airplane on the ground, explains what each control actually does, and makes sure the question you're too shy to ask gets answered anyway. By the time the engine starts, nothing in the cockpit is a mystery. Patience, as Anjali noted, does more for a first-time flyer than any amount of technical wizardry.
Ash, who runs Azzurra, built the operation around exactly that idea. A welcoming environment around aviation isn't a tagline here. It's the whole reason the company exists.
What unfolds outside the window
Linden Airport sits in a quiet corner of New Jersey that happens to be a short hop from one of the most photographed skylines on earth. Minutes after takeoff, the view opens up. The Statue of Liberty stands in the harbor below, small and unmistakable from a few thousand feet. The Verrazzano stretches across the Narrows. Lower Manhattan rises in a dense cluster of glass, with One World Trade catching whatever light the afternoon offers.
Then the island unspools northward: Midtown, the Empire State Building, the green rectangle of Central Park cut clean into the grid. From a fixed-wing airplane at a steady cruise, you get time to actually look. The high wing of the Cherokee sits above the cabin, so the windows frame the city rather than the aircraft.
For a first-time flyer, there's an extra layer to it. You're not only seeing New York from a vantage point almost nobody gets. You're also, for stretches of the flight, the one keeping the airplane pointed at it.
Come find out for yourself
Anjali said she'd come back, and we hope she does. If you've ever caught yourself watching a small plane overhead and wondering what that feels like, an intro flying lesson is the shortest distance between curiosity and the answer.
Our Piper Cherokee departs from Linden Airport with room for a small group, and no prior experience is required for anything we do. Bring your questions and a camera. We'll handle the rest.
Ready for your own view of the skyline? Book your private NYC air tour with Azzurra City Tours — wheels up from Linden Airport, minutes from Manhattan.
