Tweed-New Haven Airport: Not in my backyard!

Not in my backyard!
Below is a photo from a local Newspaper of a ravenously angry Tweed Airport opponent. This photo was made available thanks to a contingent of aviation professionals who run a website called, www.tweedfacts.org. This photo is nearly thirty seven years old. This relic of a photo can easily be representative of the ire raised and personalities against HVN Airport today. Some things never change.

Credit: www.tweedfacts.org

If your arguments against Tweed back then were so strong, why are we here today hearing the same rhetoric? I think I just answered the question.

“It’s just for Yale”!
Nobody but Yale students, Professors and staff use the airport is the proclamation of the Airport Protestors. Last time I checked, Yale University was a world-renowned Academic institution that produces some of the worlds leading minds in research, politics, healthcare, science, industry and environmentalism. Further, Yale is one of the biggest employers in the region. Anyone from East Haven work for Yale?

Credit: www.nhregister.com “It’s all for Yale”.

Might an institution the size and influence of Yale that has such a wide social, economic and cultural reach have a need and use for an airport? This might be the perfect relationship!

And to think, some of “those Yalies” might have boarded a plane from Tweed New Haven Airport! How dare they! Let the Yale Cancer researcher take the 3 hour train ride to NYC to board a plane there! The “10,000 Hawks” can tell the next patient who flies from another part of the world for life saving surgery to fly into Bradley Airport, it’s just as convenient.

If you look really, really closely…you’ll see Boeing 737 ✈️ jet aircraft at Tweed-New Haven Airport then, just as you do now! These airplanes are literally on the same ramp! No FACTS here! Credit: www.tweedfacts.org and Toni Lorenti.

Yale benefits ‘regular’ people too.

The contributions Yale makes to the New Haven Region are innumerable. Thank you! Sorry, but how many East Haven residents work for Yale? And further, how many Yalies does East Haven employ? Yale is supposed to use the airport.

I say to Yale, “keep using Tweed New Haven Airport” , that’s what it’s there for…to benefit the industries, people and institutions that surround it. Yale is one of those institutions. Claiming Tweed is Yales’ airport is not an argument. It is a clear sign of resentment and lack of understanding by the very small minority of misinformed people who utter such nonsense. If you don’t like Yale or New Haven, build your own world-class academic institution and all that comes with it.

400 Acres and 5,600 feet.

Tweed-New Haven Airport has not changed its footprint in more than three decades. The notion of the airport being built in the middle of a neighborhood is wrong. In fact, a simple effort to catalog permits for construction of homes would show the airport pre-dates the vast majority of inappropriate development.

Tweed-New Haven Airport did not encroach on the local neighborhood, the neighborhood encroached upon it.

Thirty seven years ago (such as when the first photo for this article was dated), the main runway (2-20) at Tweed was 5,600 feet long. Today, the runway at Tweed is 5,600 feet long. Coincidence?

Then, just as it does now, HVN accommodated scheduled passenger jet aircraft. Two of these aircraft (among other kinds), the British Aerospace (Bae-146) and Boeing 737-300/500 aircraft, were the mainstay of Tweed’s flight activity.

The airport has maintained itself in accordance with CFR 14 Part 139 regulations for many, many decades. These are FAA rules and regulations that apply to scheduled and unscheduled air carrier flight activity. Air Carrier service has always been appropriate at Tweed. You may not like that reality. But it is reality.

Pictured below is the Bae-146 on the ramp at Tweed-New Haven Airport. You can even see the Action News 8 helicopter in the background. This service was brought to HVN via Air Wisconsin, a then soon to be regional partner to United Airlines. Flights were 4 daily to Chicago O’Hare International Airport. For a range of reasons, this service was discontinued. The primary reason for such was airline industry restructuring. Credit: www.tweedfacts.org

Avelo and the 737-700 to the rescue!
AVELO 737-700 aircraft are very successful at Tweed because of their performance characteristics over previous versions of 737 aircraft. They have a marked advantage over the earlier versions of the 737 that United used at Tweed in the 1990s due to improvements in numerous aircraft performance matters. I’m sure the experts at the ‘10,000 Hawks’ Technical Desk know this fact and can elaborate why this is so.

Becuase I have 21 years of airline Captain experience flying a jet airplane, I happen to know, first-hand, the procedures and process for calculating takeoff and landing information. This is my training and that of every Commercial Pilot. As such, I can go into great detail why Tweed wants to extend the runway, despite AVELO already operating from its current length. But the “10,000 Hawks” seem to have a better handle on this. Can you say workshop? I’ll be the guest speaker!

Avelo routinely operates at full load factor out of HVN thanks to the impressive performance of the -700. The availability of this aircraft is a windfall for the New Haven market. That said, there are still operational limitations that sometimes hinder their flight activities.

An Olive Branch?
Through polite discussion and offers of explanation, my efforts to explain these realities of operating airplanes were summarily rejected by the malicious, crass and ignorant mob known as the “10,000 Hawks”. My intentions to explain things aeronautical are genuine and remain so. Unfortunately, the people of “10,000 Hawks” are anything but genuine.

It’s funny how the United 737 pictured above looks like the AVELO 737 pictured below. The ‘10,000 Hawks’ ought to hone their aircraft spotting skills. These airplanes sure look alike! Credits: www.tweedfacts.org and Toni Lorenti

How low can you go?
In a number of ways, the novice sees an airplane much differently than a trained, knowledgeable professional. And so it goes, the same tired arguments about low flying planes permeate the Tweed scene. Thirty seven years ago, airport opponents raised concerns about low flying planes…just like the ‘10,000 Hawks’ do today. Could it be that the ‘10,000 Hawks’ of yesterday were on to the same blockbuster story that their constituents are today? Or, could it be a bunch of nonsense? The FAA provides all citizens an avenue to report unsafe aeronautical conditions…to include low flying airplanes. Why is it that the FAA has been turning a blind eye on this hazard for thirty seven years? Because the claims then of such were unfounded and false, just as they are now. Stating airplanes fly and swoop in at tree top level makes you sound incredibly foolish.

Final approach.

As a Pilot, I’d like to know what I’ve been missing when it comes to flying an airplane . Come to think of it, I better join the next ‘10,000 Hawks’ Airport Opposition meeting to see what I’ve been missing about flying an airplane…because they sure seem to have a handle on what it takes to get an airplane in the sky. Every time they share videos and comments on aeronautical activity I am mesmerized. That is not a compliment.

Tweed Airport has served the region for a very long time. Arguments have been lobbed on to Tweeds runways for a very long time by a vocal, misinformed minority of local residents. They raise alarms, make false claims, attempt to stir fear, and worst of all, elevate themselves to the status of moral authorities who have enough virtue to fill a sports stadium. Could it be that their arguments are so worthy that their cries for help still are unanswered or are they just NIMBYs at their finest? In my view, the same arguments against Tweed today have simply been rehashed by a handful of grandstanding glory hounds.