NORTH DANSVILLE, N.Y. — A stand-off is underway in the town of North Dansville over the protected airspace near the municipal airport. Large construction cranes, used by a nearby business, are causing a serious hazard and the FAA is threatening to pull federal funds if the cranes aren’t moved.
Last month, a local pilot encountered three large cranes, more than 100 feet tall, blocking the runway as he approached the Dansville Airport, forcing him to maneuver around them.
Sean Collins, Eastern Regional Manager of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association: “It’s entirely unacceptable to be putting anything that’s a hazard in the airspace immediately in front of the approach and departing end of a runway.”
The pilot managed to land safely but Collins says it could have been much worse.
Sean Collins: “We’re very lucky that nobody hit that. Fortunately, that pilot was able to see it, it was during the day, but imagine had it been nighttime, they may never have seen these cranes.”
The cranes belong to LMC Industrial Contractors, one of the largest employers and taxpayers in North Dansville. It uses the cranes to offload steel from railcars but the business never got permits to raise the cranes and is refusing to permanently remove them.
Rick Lafford, who manages the airport, says they offered LMC nearby land away from the runway approach.
Rick Lafford: “You still have a railroad siding to load and unload. And you could bring cranes down there and use them for moving things around. And they said, ah, that just wouldn’t be practical.”
Dansville is the only airport in Livingston County, servicing everything from private planes and flight instruction to military training and medical transports. But every time the cranes go up, the runway shuts down.
Last month, the FAA determined the cranes are indeed a hazard to air navigation and is now investigating if the town is violating its federal obligations to protect the airspace.
Rick Lafford: “When the notice from the FAA came down that this was a hazard, the behavior changed, but it didn’t stop.”
News10NBC contacted LMC management and even went to their offices. Today, their CFO emailed to say they had no comment.
Last week, the town sent a letter to LMC advising that it is violating the zoning laws and gave the company six months to stop using the cranes in protected airspace. Until then, if LMC wants to use the cranes, it has to give Lafford 24 hours notice.
Rick Lafford: “We close the runway for them when they ask us to close for up to 3 hours a day, and we’re watching what the behavior is.”
At a recent special town board meeting, members discussed another alternative: closing the airport. But the town has received more than $3.5 million in federal grant money over the past two decades, including money for land acquisition, which prevents the town from closing the airport without FAA permission.
In an emailed statement, North Dansville Town Supervisor Gregory Horr said, “The North Dansville Town Board is committed to see that the Dansville Municipal Airport is operating in a safe manner allowing for easy access for aircraft to land and takeoff safely. We have been in constant contact with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and LMC Industrial Contractors Inc. (LMC) trying to reach workable solutions to LMC usage of their cranes that would satisfy the requirements of the FAA.”
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