Tweed-New Haven Airport. No Emergency here!

The widely circulated July 17, 2022 story (see below) about an Aircraft Emergency at Tweed New Haven Airport deserves some professional scrutiny and potentially legal attention in my opinion. Whether you live in the neighborhood surrounding Tweed or had a loved one flying on Avelo Airlines that day, I can imagine your heart rate went up when you saw reports about an aircraft emergency.

My purpose in writing about this matter is to illustrate that the sources of this public scare were either intentionally deceptive or technically inept. Either is reprehensible and deserves the scrutiny and backlash of local media, public officials, various government agencies and most of all, you, the general public.

In their own words.

In my opinion, the necessary evidence seems lacking to warrant the video recording making verbatim claims of:

1. Aircraft evacuation. 2. Landing gear trouble. 3. An aircraft in the grass. 4. Emergency.

***The true cause for alarm is the intentionally false or erroneous report by a group of highly misinformed activists as it pertains to aviation matters***

The story of an emergency was retracted later that day and a public apology given by New Haven On Scene Media because they did not properly scrutinize the source of the story (see below) and yet published it anyway. Thank you for the apology. We, members of the public and those who come to use Tweed New Haven Airport as Flight Crew and Passengers, have a right to know the source of your story.

My description below of general aspects to aircraft emergencies will quickly illustrate that willful trickery was at hand by certain prominent members of a neighborhood airport opposition group.

Disclaimer!

I am no expert. That said, I am a properly trained and actively employed professional pilot and feel well qualified to discuss the matter at hand. I publicly challenge the individuals who initiated the report of an aircraft emergency to supply the public with their reasoning for causing such a stir.

It’s more complicated than one article.

Aircraft emergencies and abnormalities are intricate, often complicated matters. The specific aircraft, pilots, weather and a myriad of other factors all play a role in the determination of a mechanical (or other) emergency or abnormality. From a pilot's perspective, emergencies are a very complex events and well outside the intended scope of this article. As such, I’m going to simplify the discussion of aircraft emergencies to the very basics and not get overly complex. As you’ll soon see, complexity is not necessary when dealing with school yard bullies who tell lies.

No Black Box or Flight Data Recorder needed! You can hear it yourself.
Did the pilot of the given aircraft declare an emergency? Did they report an abnormal situation to Air Traffic Control? This is VERIFIABLE INFORMATION that can be attained even by the most casual observer to aviation activities. Actual dialogue between Pilot and Air Traffic Control facilities can be attained by tuning in to www.liveatc.net

The above website makes air traffic control and pilot radio exchanges accessible to every person who wishes to listen. Conveniently, this radio “chatter” is even archived. As such, it is possible to review the Pilot and Air Traffic Controller conversations at the time this supposed event at Tweed occurred. All we need to narrow our search is the time the sources for this story claim to have heard of an aircraft problem.

If given a specific time, we could find not just the Pilot and Controller radio exchanges but the Avelo flight number and the nature of the problem. In knowing this, we could decipher between a misunderstanding and a deliberate falsification by the sources. Anyone out there? Did a radio conversation between Pilot and Controllers give the sources of this story a reason to report an emergency at the Airport? I think not.

Do you have your own scanner?
Did the citizens group member who videoed herself commentating the emergency listen to any of the frequencies the aircraft would have used when approaching Tweed? Did she listen to the website I mentioned above? Does she have her own radio scanner to listen to air traffic controllers and pilots in real-time? Is this how she heard of a problem at the airport? These are real questions to ask a person who says she “heard” something happened at the airport.

The woman responsible for the video widely dispersed on social media and a likely source was Jean-Edwards Chieppo. Mrs. Chieppo is not just a member of the group, "10,000 Hawks" but also Administrator for several anti-airport Facebook groups such as "Keep Tweed Small", "Stop Tweed Expansion", "Residents Against Tweed". Additionally, she has been interviewed by several media agencies on recent developments around Tweed-New Haven Airport and expressed oppositional views.

I wonder...is there a correlation between a person who is a renowned airport opponent and one who happens to "report" an aircraft emergency via social media?

Mrs. Edwards-Chieppo states, "Emergency vehicles helped the plane come into the terminal", "I heard they had a problem with the landing gear and had to do an emergency landing in the grass" and "we will investigate". I wonder, who did you hear these facts from Jean? How is your investigation going? Inquiring minds want to know. The neighborhoods that you claim to represent are eagerly awaiting your Press Conference.

I wonder who the source for this false story was?

When you offer yourself as a defender of the public, state your views publicly and use mass dissemination techniques, you take on a big responsibility Mrs. Edwards. Was this what you signed up for?

If radio communications between Pilot and controller discussing an emergency or abnormality cannot be found to exist, I think someone told a lie. To the 10,000 Hawks, I’m waiting for your rebuttal. In fact, we all are.

Airborne 911.
Further, if there was a true emergency, the flight crew would have occasion to activate an “Emergency Code” on their Aircraft Transponder. The Transponder is a continuous “silent beacon” that broadcasts aircraft position on a Controller’s radar screen to include specific, identifying data about an airplane.

This special code number (7700) that pilots “dial” into the transponder during an emergency is a way to alert Air Traffic Control that we have an emergency. It gets the ball rolling for notification of problems aloft by making our radar signature “blossom” and become prominent on the Air Traffic Controller’s screen. It also sets off alarms at the Controller’s workstation. Dear prominent neighborhood activists, is this what you saw on your radar? Do you have an app for that?

If they did, this would verify that there was good cause to think something was happening at the airport. Is this how these persons “heard” of the emergency? To my knowledge, only Air Traffic Controllers have radar.

Real 911.
Finally, had there been an emergency at the airport, there would be audio recordings at 911 centers for both East Haven and New Haven Fire/EMS. Both Agencies respond to incidents and accidents at Tweed per Mutual Aid agreement. This happens when the Air Traffic Control Tower at Tweed itself picks up the “red phone” (it really is red)...

...in response to a known aircraft emergency as indicated by the Flight Crew. Further, there would have been subsequent radio dispatches of the respective Fire Departments. Did the woman who videoed herself cataloging an emergency at the Airport hear the radio chatter? Was she using her radio scanner again?

Did those big yellow trucks fool you?

If observation of Aircraft Crash Rescue vehicles on the airfield were these persons reasons for creating a potential public commotion, they ought to review their vast experience of living near an airport. As a pilot and certified firefighter, I happen to know that Crash trucks routinely operate on an airport for a host of operational reasons that do not involve aircraft emergencies. One such reason is operational checks of their fire suppression systems. Hmmm. Maybe they check their Deck-Guns and Master Streams once in a while? Did this alert you Mrs. Edwards-Chieppo?

Lorena Venegas and Jean-Edwards Chieppo, if the operation of a Crash Truck at Tweed was the source of your worry (enough so to be sources for media reports) you had better go back to Airport Operations School 101 and learn what happens at an airport. By purporting to be experts when you are not really, you are endangering the public.

For the record.

When there is an aircraft problem, Pilots do not report aircraft emergencies on loudspeakers to the neighborhood around a given airport. We don’t call you on the phone. We don’t email you. We don’t go to the community water fountain to discuss our mechanical problems where members of airport opposition groups in-turn hear our “private” discussions.

In emergency situations, we a follow a specific set of procedures to communicate such, that in turn, set off a whole chain of other verifiable events that you can find yourself quite easily. On July 17, 2022, none of these events occurred. This doesn't mean something "fishy" is going on as Edwards-Chieppo stated in her widely disseminated video, it means we follow specific procedures. I thought you knew that Captain?

In the end. Whether in error or deliberate.

The “news” of an aircraft emergency at Tweed New-Haven Airport was a deliberate and false story promulgated by the hands, voices and images of disingenuous or technically inept people. These people are therefore responsible for endangering the public. An aircraft incident or accident is obviously a significant event and one not to take lightly. Knowledge of such can be quite alarming. When someone erroneously or maliciously alerts the public of such an event through careless of nefarious use of media outlets, the public is endangered. I guess the real danger to East Haven and New Haven is not the airport after all.

Do you mean to tell me that a group of self-proclaimed airport experts who represent the concerns of the community can be fooled into thinking an emergency is happening merely by the site of a parked airplane and a crash truck checking its turrets and driving around the airport? For someone so adept at knowing every intricate detail of the airport, you misperceived a plane parked on pavement as being in the grass? And this was your substance for calling it an emergency? You need facts. FACTS.

I expect better from experts. You should too.

In the above described matter, technical ineptitude is as bad as deliberate misinformation. Those responsible must be held accountable.

The individuals who orchestrated this misinformation (and by default their various organizations) campaign on Sunday, July 17 2022 regarding Tweed-New Haven Airport are responsible for needlessly alarming the public. To falsely report an aircraft accident or incident is at the very least an assault to public trust, if not more. As residents of the surrounding community, is this watchdog group and its member who you want piloting your future?