Good job sticking up for Buffalo, its actually quite nice here. (even though i'm in Lockport)
The reality is that all of the cities of NY, with the exception of NY City, are not what I would call "glamor cities." US cities like San Diego, Las Vegas, Miami, Los Angeles, NY City, and Atlanta are some of the cities I would label as such. Instead, we up here are old, manufacturing cities that are having a trying time of reinventing themselves since the big employers have all moved out. Sadly, there has been a negative growth rate, at least in Syracuse, over the last ten years with more people leaving that arriving, due in part to a lack of opportunity and high taxes.
I am confident that if it were a Buffalo controller and a pilot checking in with Buffalo, the same conversation could have occurred with Syracuse as the butt of the joke.
Do you think they could really see that far? Must have been a super clear evening.
It was a CAVU day yesterday and you should have been up flying! I am guessing that they could see that far away as it wasn't as hazy as the summer experiences. I was able to spot SYR from at least 50nm out.