A LOW TIME SMA PLT GOT DISORIENTED WHILE TRYING TO LAND AT LDJ. HE FLEW LOW OVER RAHWAY PRISON.

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WE WERE LNDG AT LINDEN; NJ; ABOUT 5 OR SO MI S OF EWR. WE'D BEEN CLRED INTO THE TCA AND WERE TRACKING THE NEWARK NDB TOO LINDEN. WHEN WE GOT CLOSE; THE NY APCH CTLR HAD US DO A SERIES OF DSCNTS. THE FINAL ONE BEING 'DSND BELOW THE FLOOR OF THE TCA.' WE DSNDED AND HE CALLED US CLR AT ABOUT 1300 MSL (ABOUT 10-15? MI S OF LINDEN). WE WERE UNFAMILIAR WITH THE AREA AND TOLD CTL SO; AND STILL HAD NO ARPT IN SIGHT. THE SECTIONALS AND TCA CHARTS HAD JUST A BLOB OF YELLOW FOR THE AREA WE WERE OVERFLYING. WE WERE ABOUT TO ADVISE APCH UNABLE TO DSND BELOW THE NEXT (LOWEST) TIER OF THE TCA (ABOUT 800 MSL; 500 IN SOME AREAS). SINCE NO ARPT IN SIGHT AND WE FELT IT UNSAFE TO CRUISE SO LOW OVER A DENSE CITY WITH MANY TWRS POKING UP HERE AND THERE. THEN WE SAW 1 PATCH OF 'OPEN AREA' IN ALL THE CONCRETE AND THOUGHT IT WAS LINDEN. WE DSNDED AND INFORMED MY APCH 'ARPT IN SIGHT.' IT TURNED OUT TO BE RAHWAY PRISON. AFTER A FRANTIC 30-45 SECONDS OF LOOKING FOR THE ARPT; WE SAW RUNWAY 9. UNICOM DIDN'T ANSWER 3 CALLS AND WE PROCEEDED TO LAND. WE ENDED UP GOING AROUND (TOO FAST) AND THEN A CHILD (MAYBE 10-12) COMES ON UNICOM; CALLS THE WRONG RWY BUT FINALLY GIVES US ARPT INFO; WE ENTER THE PATTERN AND LAND. I THINK BETTER TCA MAPS; WITH FEATURES (RESTAURANTS; PRISONS; ETC.) CLRLY AND FREQUENTLY MARKED; (ESPECIALLY NEAR TCA FLOOR ALT CHANGES) AND PERHAPS 'UNOFFICIAL' APCHS TO ARPTS SO CLOSE TO MAJOR ARPTS (EWR; ETC.) WOULD GREATLY IMPROVE SAFETY OF CITIES BELOW; TFC IN THE SKIES; AND BUSY TFC AREAS.