📷 Cover photo by Jeff B., shared with their review
Some flights are simply transportation. Others stay with you for years, replayed every time someone asks about the best thing you have ever done in New York. For Jeff B., who flew with Azzurra City Tours in September 2025, it was clearly the second kind.
Jeff left a five-star Google review after his flight, and it captures something we hear often but never tire of hearing: the surprise of seeing Manhattan from a small airplane, close enough that the city stops being a postcard and becomes a living, three-dimensional place.
The Review
Three things stand out in what Jeff wrote, and they line up almost exactly with what our guests tell us after they climb out of the airplane.
Closer Than You Expect
The first is proximity. Photographs and video never quite prepare people for it. From the air, the towers of Midtown and Lower Manhattan rise beside you rather than in front of you, and the Statue of Liberty appears at a scale that feels almost personal. Jeff put it plainly: you won't believe how close the plane is able to get. That reaction, more than anything else, is why we do this.
Calm, Steady, Safe
The second is the feeling of the flight itself. Many guests arrive a little unsure about what a small airplane will feel like, especially if their only frame of reference is a crowded commercial jet. Our Piper Cherokee PA-28 is a fixed-wing airplane, and fixed-wing flight is smooth and predictable by nature. Jeff described the experience as calm, steady and always felt safe, and he credited the pilot directly. Our pilots fly with an easy, unhurried professionalism, narrating what you are seeing, pointing out landmarks, and giving you time to take it in. Nobody is rushed, and nobody is left guessing what comes next.
The Best Way to See New York
The third is the conclusion Jeff reached: that this is absolutely the best way to see NYC. We are biased, of course, but there is a reason the air view is different. From the ground, New York reveals itself one block at a time. From above, you finally see how it all fits together, the rivers, the bridges, the harbor, the long green rectangle of Central Park set into the grid, and the whole island stretching away beneath you.
What Guests See on These Flights
Our flights depart from Linden Airport in New Jersey, just minutes from Manhattan by air, which means very little of your time is spent getting to the good part. From there, guests typically take in the Manhattan skyline, Lower Manhattan and the harbor, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, the East River bridges, and the wider sweep of New York and New Jersey on a clear day. Because this is a private tour, the airplane is yours, so the windows are yours too. There is no leaning over a stranger's shoulder for a photograph.
Come See It for Yourself
What we appreciate most about Jeff's review is the tone of it. It reads like someone still a little amazed, still turning the experience over. That is exactly the state we hope our guests are in when they walk back across the ramp at Linden.
If you have been thinking about seeing New York from the air, whether for a special occasion, a visitor you want to impress, or simply because you have looked up at enough airplanes and wondered, we would be glad to have you aboard. Bring a camera, and a friend or two who will believe you afterward.
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.
