Tweed-New Haven Airport: The newHVN way to do business!

Here is the “end of the World” that will soon be thrust upon us! (see Above and Below). Presented above and below in this article are Technical Drawings from the HVN Environmental Assessment of the current West Side Passenger Terminal complex as compared to the proposed East Side Terminal complex.

Two Technical Drawings of West versus East.
Tweed Airport achieves a net gain of three airplanes on the ramp (making for a total of Eight (8) 737 Aircraft) at any one time with the new East Side Terminal. This compared to the current five (5) airplane capacity at the current West Side Terminal. Watch out Chicago-O’Hare Airport! You too LaGuardia…you better watch yourself! Five versus Eight.

Mind you, two (2) spots are reserved for storage. Remote Spots are not used for active loading or unloading. They are used for storage and /or staging. As the spots at the Terminal free up, then ground crews will tow these remote storage airplanes to the recently vacated spot and ready these planes for flight. At best, you could hope to board six (6) planes at one time. This compared to three (3) at the current West-Side terminal Complex. That is not a massive expansion.

Airplanes of this size, require turn-times of up to 1 hour per plane.

A "turn" is the amount of time it takes for the Flight Crew to set the parking brake upon arrival, disembark passengers and then ready the airplane for the commensurate departure. Ground Crews and Flight Crews carry out this process jointly. Would you rather learn about aircraft operations from professional Aviation Staff or that of a hawk? Who have you been getting your facts from?

It’s a long way to Tipperary.

Despite the excellent and top-notch Ground Crew at Avelo Airlines, turning six (6) Boeing 737 airplanes in one hour would be a noble endeavor and mighty task indeed (even if Avelo were to schedule that many flights per hour to begin with). Six takeoffs in an hour. That could be six takeoffs all in 10-15 minutes or spread over the entire hour. Can you handle it? Mind you, the Forecasts for air traffic at Tweed call for 25-30 departures PER DAY. NOT PER HOUR. PER DAY. We Already have twelve to fourteen (12-14) per day. Nobody is planning for six (6) departures per hour (12 operations) throughout the course of the day. NOBODY.

*** When you read the table, BE WARY: 24 operations mean 12 Takeoffs & 12 landings***

***Also, this only pertains to Airline Operations and not total operations. Rest assured; Private jets won't be lining up to use Tweed with the new Terminal....because they are not legally allowed to use an Air Carrier Terminal".***

What are your credentials?

As a Captain, I work with Ground Crews and Gate Agents to “turn a plane”. The DOT and my Chief Pilot are watching too that we get that plane in and out on-time…those are my critics. I know what I'm talking about because I do this for a living. Have the 10,000 Hawks ever been responsible for operating 5 flights in one day (and on-time I might add)? If so, I would like to see their Resumes, as I want them on my Crew for the next flight. Until then, I know how airplanes, terminals, airport aprons and airports operate. I also know misinformation when I see it. The 10,000 Hawks and their kind are spreading misinformation.

Do the Tech experts at the 10,000 Hawks and Save Our Shoreline have experience to bemoan to you just what a new Terminal and runway extension means? They spew it, but they don’t substantiate it. When it comes to Aeronautical concerns, Plane truths are needed, not people's opinions.

Eight Airplanes on the ground at Tweed at one time makes not for Laguardia-like activity. Remember, Tweed already has as many as five aircraft on the ground…maybe even six. This isn‘t the “Massive Expansion” you’ve been hearing about.

The physical limitations of the new Terminal and the new aircraft parking apron will not allow the likes of what the doomsayers the likes of "10,000 Hawks”, “Save Our Shoreline", “Keep Tweed Small”, “www.flytweedfacts.org” and "East Haven Politics” are promoting.

By adding the new Terminal and Aircraft Apron area, Tweed is making an improvement to what it already does, and that is, handling a small number of flights.

1. Tweed proposes no new aircraft parking areas outside the one shown.
2. Tweed does not propose new taxiways (High Speed Taxiways for example) as these would increase capacity.
3. Tweed does not intend new aircraft holding bays outside what you already see in the EA (drawings above).

Tweed is not proposing to add a new runway. Nope!

Adding runway length does not add THROUGHPUT CAPACITY (Yup, that's a real word that experts in airport planning use.) Adding runway length lets Tweed do what it already does better. It doesn't turn tweed into a 24/7 Freight Hub.

Tweed does not intend to add capacity increasing technologies to the airspace around Tweed…nor does the FAA. These would increase capacity. This is FACT.

The new Terminal as proposed at Tweed cannot handle much more than it already does (see scale technical drawings). Further, the airport layout, i.e., taxiways, runways and parking areas, will not absorb any more either…just because a Terminal is built…. much more would need to be done to those aspects of the airport in order to handle the amount of traffic prophesied by our local fortune tellers. I have sighted my words on airport capacity with FACTS.

Please prepare for landing.

The bottom line? With improvements as planned, Tweed will be better able to handle what it does currently. This is a net win for everyone. In a true sense, Tweed does stay small. Not a parcel of land is acquired in the Airport Improvements proposed. How is that a massive expansion?

Due to current and future physical and airspace limitations, Tweed will still be a very limited capacity airport (because it is staying small), demonstrating once again, the utter nonsense of the opposition. Laguardia and Chicago-O’Hare Airports can rest easy. Now that the "Master Plan" has been revealed, I hope you can now see who has been speaking fallacies from day one.

A new Terminal and Runway extension at HVN will ultimately function to serve the current level of activity (and allow for but a MINOR INCREASE in activity) in a better and more efficient way. There is nothing massive about that…except the lies and ego of a Hawk.