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CHUCK ‘AIRS’ NEW GRIPES

A plan to transfer four weather forecasters and about 100 FAA engineers to offices out of the New York area will pose a safety hazard and cause airplane delays, Sen. Charles Schumer warned yesterday.

“The plan would move people with unique knowledge of the New York air traffic system far, far away,” Schumer (D-NY) said.

“The FAA’s consolidation plan could compromise air travel safety and certainly reduce the efficiency of travel in New York City, and we can’t allow that to happen.”

Federal Aviation Administration officials declined to comment on Schumer’s statements.

Under the agency’s plan, the four National Weather Service forecasters would be moved to FAA facilities elsewhere in the country, a federal aviation source said. Transferring those workers is the Weather Service’s proposal, said the source.

The engineers — whose job is to design navigation and communications systems — would be moved to a FAA facility in Atlanta in the next few years, said the source.

Schumer said that because flight delays in New York ripple across the country, moving the forecasters and planning engineers would slow traffic nationwide.

bill.sanderson@nypost.com