Not a great place for a crane...

La G planes and cranes don't mix
By BILL SANDERSON, NY Post

Bonehead construction workers erected a crane on a barge in the middle of Flushing Bay -- right in the path of planes headed for La Guardia Airport.

Luckily, no one was hurt in the Jan. 8 incident, although a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said some planes had to be diverted until the barge was moved.

FAA rules allow construction cranes near airports -- if they are kept safely away from flight paths.

The crane was being used to build a trash-transfer station in College Point, 2,000 feet across the bay from La Guardia's Runway 13/31.

Critics have said the trash-transfer station itself will pose an aviation hazard, since garbage draws birds, like the Canada geese that brought down US Airways Flight 1549 last year.

But the FAA and the Port Authority signed off on the city Department of Sanitation project. The city says the transfer station will be sealed tightly enough to keep birds away.