Coast Guard Aircraft Makes Emergency Landing At Tweed Monday, Fire Departments Not Notified

NEW HAVEN/EAST HAVEN, CT—The incident was described by a private social media page for fire, rescue, and EMS officials as an "aircraft emergency squawking," an emergency landing of a U.S. Coast Guard HC-144 Ocean Sentry, a twin-engine, fixed-wing plane used by the Coast Guard for search and rescue at Tweed New Haven Airport Monday.

Neither East Haven Fire Department nor New Haven Fire Department chiefs were notified of the emergency landing.

"We found out on social media," EHFD Chief Matthew Marcarelli said.

Marcarelli said the department's standard operating guideline is that in an emergency such as this, the FAA would classify this as an Alert 1. Fire companies would be notified of the IFE (in-flight emergency) and would stand by on station."

Marcarelli said, "No notification was made to our PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point)."

"We learned of this via social media," he said. "A concern enough to scramble ARFF (Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting) crews at the very least should warrant notification."

New Haven Fire Chief Daniel Coughlin said when asked if he had any comment on the emergency landing that "I can tell you only that Tweed neglected to notify the New Haven and East Haven fire departments."

Andrew King, Tweed New Haven Airport spokesperson, said that the Coast Guard plane's crew, when asked whether they required an emergency response, "indicated that ARFF coverage at the field was sufficient ...as a precaution."

King said the USCG plane was "experiencing a mechanical issue with one engine and made a precautionary landing at the airport."

"The flight crew notified air traffic control, conducted a circuit around the airport to run through their checklists, and elected to shut down the affected engine and land on the remaining engine — a procedure these aircraft are designed and certified to perform," King said. "The aircraft landed without incident."

King said the standard protocol had air traffic control ask about emergency response. King said that "mutual aid from outside fire departments was not requested."

King said no crew was injured in the landing and there was no damage to the aircraft or airport."