Photo by Tom Alfano

Aviation enthusiasm has been a strong spectator sport in the New York City area for several decades. But it wasn’t until August 31, 2003 that the first inkling of organization among enthusiasts came to be. What had started out as an email to some local friends by Phil Derner Jr., ended up becoming Aireola Aviation; a newsletter that quickly grew into a weekly e-magazine for people around the city, state, country, and even the world to see what was going on in the New York City aviation scene.

It was clear that New York City had a family of aviation enthusiasts that needed not only an online headquarters for them to enjoy, but a place that can make our fellow enthusiasts from around the planet feel more welcome in our city than anywhere else in the world. We set out to provide our readers and members with the tools necessary to make New York City a mecca for aviation enthusiasm. NYCAviation.com’s debut on July 6, 2004 marked the unveiling of a pioneer in aviation enthusiasm websites. At that time, it was no secret that New York was one of the most popular destinations for spotters, photographers, and tourists alike. We made those tools available.

Our second site revamp in the 2009 marked the beginning of our next step…to respond to the need for a true aviation site that brought enthusiasts what they wanted far beyond the city limits of New York. We wanted to come up with something unique and fresh.  We wanted to provide news that is not only interesting, but fun, and not just a list of press releases telling us that “x” airline reported falling numbers this quarter. Our Spotting Guides and “On This Day in Aviation History” features are just a few of the aspects of our site where we make aviation something to celebrate once again.

For any questions about our site or our features, please contact us.

Services

NYCAviation offers a variety of services far beyond the news and enthusiast resources you see on our website. With hundreds of thousands of enthusiasts around the world, contact admin@nycaviation.com to see how we can bring you the following:

• Hobby Consulting – No other organization has as long a resume for educating on and representing the hobby of aviation enthusiasm and planespotting. We are available for interviews, article writing and more.
• Airport Security – Learn why enthusiasts are not a threat, but a great asset for your local airport by implementing our volunteer watch programs utilizing dedicated, knowledgeable enthusiasts. Contact us to be at the leading edge of community involvement.
• Photography – We provide aviation photos of all kinds for web or print, to meet any need from our constantly growing database of 50,000+ photos. Our team of photographers are available to cover events as well. Learn why magazines, major airlines, Boeing, the FAA and many more have come to us.
• Advertising – Reach thousands of enthusiasts who have a strong awareness and knowledge in aviation, travel and photography.

In the Media

Our efforts in covering and promoting the hobby have been showcased and covered in many national publications, books, magazines, newspapers television and radio as well. Here are some samples:

• New York Daily News, July 14, 2008: “Retired Concorde suffers damage at Floyd Bennett Field.” By Rachel Monahan.
• The Sun, July 9, 2008: “Rotting way to treat Concorde.” By Emily Smith.
• The Telegraph, July 9, 2008: “US leaves Concorde gift from UK to rot in airfield.” By Laura Clout.
• The New Yorker, April 2, 2007: “Up in the Sky Dept: Rare Bird.” By Andrew Blum.
• The New York Times,  June 11, 2006: “Overhead, the Objects of Their Affection.” By Julia Ramey.
• Columbia News Service, March 14, 2006: “After 9/11, plane-spotter hobbyists are being watched themselves.” By Shira Ovide.

Our Team

Our team consists of dedicated individuals who have an intense passion for sharing the world of aviation with others. Each of them contributes their own special talents to bring you a powerful online aviation experience.

Phil Derner Jr. – Founder and President

Phil grew up watching planes at La Guardia Airport from his home across Flushing Bay in the town of College Point. Evolving from aviation photography and writing work, he created this website to be an online headquarters for aviation enthusiasts from around the world. He writes for and maintains various sections of the website while handling public relations and day-to-day business, including consulting on the hobby of planespotting.

Phil’s background includes coordinating advertising campaigns in a major Madison Avenue marketing firm. He holds an FAA Aircraft Dispatcher License, and is currently working in the control center of a NY-based charter airline as a Controller. Email: phil@nycaviation.com

Matt Molnar – Editor and Director of Technology

Matt manages the content of the NYCAviation website, writing features and reference material, coordinating the site’s contributors and editing their submissions. The site’s design and infrastructure are mostly his doing, as are NYCA’s social media efforts. If you ever happen to tweet back and forth with @NYCAviation on Twitter, chances are Matt is the voice behind the TweetDeck.

Raised in northeastern Queens, Matt watched the endless stream of air traffic flowing over his house, into and out of LaGuardia and Kennedy Airports, which led to a fascination with planes at an early age. At 11, he participated in a New York Hall of Science-sponsored tour of JFK—which included rides around the ramp, a visit to the control tower and the chance to board a Pan Am 747—an event that solidified his love affair with aircraft. His interest in flying machines and the processes which make the airline industry tick truly took off when he finally encountered the vibrant communities of aviation enthusiasts on the Internet, on sites like Airliners.net.

When he’s not proselytizing the joys of planespotting through these pages, Matt is an online producer for a major tech/science/automotive magazine in New York.

Jeremy Lindgren – Program Coordinator

Jeremy Lindgren serves as NYCAviation’s Program Coordinator.  Charged with growing the ranks of the NYCAviation community, he works behind the scenes and on the front lines to create and cement relationships with individual spotters, aviation institutions, media outlets, and airshows nation-wide.  He seeks out fresh stories and upcoming aviation events while recruiting for and coordinating them.  He also directly contributes event coverage, writing, and photography.

Having grown up in Central Massachusetts, Jeremy cannot remember a time when he didn’t like watching airplanes.  While for many years being petrified of flying, he couldn’t resist watching the traffic into Worcester Airport from his house and, even better, visiting the field to experience it all up close.  The influences of great shooters as the digital photography era emerged permanently conjoined Jeremy with airplanes and photography.  While he has been taking photos of planes since he was 10, his photographic work took off after graduating college and moving to Seattle, where he can be found visiting airports in the Pacific Northwest and spending time with his soon to be wife.

Photographers

These talented photographers contribute their work to NYCAviation to illustrate both the site and articles that you enjoy.