C172 pilot reported being distracted while on a sightseeing flight along the coast beneath jfk class...

Attributes
ACN	1374442
Time
Date	201607
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	JFK.Airport
State Reference	NY
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	None
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Private
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 10 Flight Crew Total 334 Flight Crew Type 326
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural FAR Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT

Narrative:

We had planned to fly to new york city for an aerial tour. The weather forecast was VFR. During our flight; we took the long island south shoreline westbound toward new york city. When I reached jones beach I established communication with kennedy tower and received a squawk code for flight following. I was instructed to remain at or below 500 feet and clear of the kennedy class bravo airspace. A little while later; while flying the shoreline near coney island; I inadvertently lost situational awareness while pointing out sights to my friends and inadvertently descended to approximately 100 feet to 200 feet AGL. I then climbed back up to 400 feet making sure not to penetrate the kennedy bravo airspace at 500+ feet. I did not strike anything. There was no accident. No one was injured. It was strictly a loss of altitude that brought us too close to the surface. I remained below the class bravo at all times.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: C172 pilot reported being distracted while on a sightseeing flight along the coast beneath JFK Class B airspace. While attempting to maintain 400 feet AGL; the aircraft was allowed to descend to within 150 feet of the water.

Narrative: We had planned to fly to New York City for an aerial tour. The weather forecast was VFR. During our flight; we took the Long Island south shoreline westbound toward New York City. When I reached Jones Beach I established communication with Kennedy tower and received a squawk code for flight following. I was instructed to remain at or below 500 feet and clear of the Kennedy class bravo airspace. A little while later; while flying the shoreline near Coney Island; I inadvertently lost situational awareness while pointing out sights to my friends and inadvertently descended to approximately 100 feet to 200 feet AGL. I then climbed back up to 400 feet making sure not to penetrate the Kennedy bravo airspace at 500+ feet. I did not strike anything. There was no accident. No one was injured. It was strictly a loss of altitude that brought us too close to the surface. I remained below the class bravo at all times.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

C172 pilot reported being distracted while on a sightseeing flight along the coast beneath jfk class B airspace. While attempting to maintain 400 feet AGL; the aircraft was allowed to descend to within 150 feet of the water.