The co-pilot of US Airways Flight 1549, which miraculously landed in the Hudson after geese knocked out its engines, says the city should ditch a proposed trash-transfer station near La Guardia Airport because it could become a “magnet for birds.”
“I don’t think it’s appropriate to put it so close to La Guardia,” Jeffrey Skiles said yesterday. “Certainly, having something so close to an airport, any kind of trash facility, is just a magnet for birds.”
Skiles was co-pilot on the Jan. 15 flight that was hit by birds shortly after takeoff. He helped Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger bring the Airbus A320 to a smooth landing in the river.
The site for the planned 100-foot tall waste station in College Point is just 2,000 feet from a runway, even though Federal Aviation Administration guidelines suggest that such facilities be 10,000 feet away.
Last week, the House passed a bill requiring the 10,000-foot guideline to apply to the College Point transfer station. The bill is now in the Senate.
The city’s Department of Sanitation said the containers would be sealed and would not attract birds.