I live in Queens, NYC, about 1/2 mile down the extended centerline of one of the runways at LGA (dunno which number; we're southwest of the airport, and our front window also faces southwest). Fairly often we get planes landing above our house, and occasionally we get planes taking off this way.

From what I understand there's been a no-fly zone over Yankee Stadium for the past few days during the World Series because of the terrorist threat. Last night, though, a large twin-engine plane (I couldn't positively identify it) overflew our house on takeoff to the southwest, leveled off at around 2,000 feet, then turned hard right in a high-bank turn to the north. It actually seemed to be descending as it crossed from south to north in front of us and then disappeared behind an apartment building across the street. It gave both me and my girlfriend a bit of a start; we've never seen a flight path like that before coming out of LGA, and it seemed to be heading straight into the no-fly zone.

Any idea where this plane could have been going? Is there any sort of standard flight path that sounds like this? It was unusual enough that we actually turned off the pre-game for about half an hour just in case (who'd want to see that?), but once it became clear that nothing had happened, we forgot about it. Could this have been a charter flight out for sightseeing purposes? Normally planes that fly to the north from that southwest takeoff make a left turn out over Queens, not a right turn over Manhattan and the Bronx (and not so low either).

btw, anybody know if LGA ATC's on the net anywhere? I've only ever seen Kennedy tower, never LGA. I'd love to be able to hear the transmissions as I watch planes come in to land.