Tweed-New Haven Airport: Not to divert your attention!

If you live within 50 miles of Tweed-New Haven Airport, you’ve probably heard a great deal about this darling little airport. HVN Airport has recently and truly sprouted its wings and taken flight. Thanks to a combination of factors, New Haven’s small Airport has gained the favor of hundreds of thousands of air travelers, regional businesses and regional residents. Despite this stratospheric greatness though, comes the occasional inconvenience and attendant price of public and media scrutiny. Take diversions for example.

From the local Press, to a handful of Social Media “Warriors” (the likes of EH Politics, flytweedfacts, SaveOurShorelineConnecticut & KeepTweedSmall) we hear about arrival diversions…like they don’t happen elsewhere…and are the story of the year.

Here:

Let me clear: I’m not here to describe the process of diversions. Nor am I here to minimize what they mean to passengers, crew and airlines. Further, I am not here to discuss or defend poor customer service or handling of such. Remember, I’m the Pilot-In-Command…I’m the one who makes the decision to divert, go-around or enter into a holding pattern. My best interest is yours. I promise. My reason for writing you on this matter is to address the horrendously unfair and biased media coverage of this matter. Take for example:

Friday, April 12. A flight inbound to HVN diverted to BDL. Buckle your seat belts folks!!!

Come to find out, this flight diversion would be just the tip of the propeller for what would come later for flights operating in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast areas. As a point of fact, this AVELO flight was one of six (6) flights that diverted to BDL that day alone. AVELO was joined by five (5) others:

Delta Connection 5359, Jet Blue 814, Delta Connection 3989, American Eagle 5547 and Delta 672.

⬆️ Look up to the beginning of this article. I attached 6 “flight-strips” from www.flightaware.com that shows you these flights diverting to Bradley International Airport⬆️

If you ask me, Bradley Air Traffic Control and BDL Airport Operations were mighty busy handling all those extra flights. Why didn’t the local press cover this big 🎉 party at BDL?

Between JFK, LGA, PWM, HPN, PHL and CLT on Friday, April 12, there were….hold your ☕️ coffee…26 diversions. And that number is not all inclusive. Charlotte-Douglass International Airport had fourteen (14) diversions alone on this day. Why?

⬆️ The above are from www.flightaware.com. These flights were American Eagle 5461, 5260, 5310, 5447, 5311, 5331, 5022, 5740, 5793. American 1635, 1535. United 2635. Delta Connection 4986 and Republic 5628. April 12, 2024.

Why didn’t our local media share that due to Thunderstorms, High Winds and Low Visibility several flights throughout the Northeast diverted? Was something really special going on at Tweed?

Right Airport? Wrong Day to fly?
Were airlines flying the wrong airplane to the wrong runway on this day?

Were these airports without Crash, Fire and Rescue services?

Were these airports and their terminals flooded?

Do these airports sit in a “water bowl” ?

I ask these very specific questions because they all address the ludicrous cries of anti-airport protesters that somehow have made favor with the local news. That isn’t very fair reporting.

Return your seats to their upright and locked position!
My point in writing you is to opine that mainstream media takes on stories of flight diversions (and many other Tweed related stories) WITHOUT SHARING THE OVERALL CONTEXT AS TO WHY THE HVN FLIGHTS DIVERTED and THE BIGGER PICTURE going on at Tweed.

One would think that local media outlets staff their newsrooms with Meteorologists? Further, with these expert, On-Air Meteorologists quite possibly accessible to News Reporters( maybe the next desk) , you’d think they might consult with them as to why a flight or twenty diverted on a particular day? Nahhhh. That would reveal that Tweed-New Haven Airport was a causality of weather…just as the six (6) airports I listed above were…and that’s no way to unfairly malign Tweed-New Haven Airport, is it?

Fact is: In Almost every single diversion “story” covered by the local press since Tweed has gained Rock Star status, the most common, routine cause has been omitted by media outlets. It’s weather…and not localized bad weather…but regionally bad weather that causes many flight Diversions at many area airports. On many of the days Tweed Airport experiences diversions, so too do other local and regional airports. We sure do have Fog, high winds and thunderstorms…just like all the airports usually do and often at the same time. Tweed is not meteorologically special.

As a token of fair play, I offer to discuss the given day’s weather with any of our local main stream media Meteorologists. Why didn’t Meteorologists at WTNH8, NBC30 and WFSB3 let their reporter colleagues know that the weather was bad up and down most of the East Coast? Why wasn’t that part of the story? I guess I had to do it for them.

www.aviationweather.gov Friday, April 12, 2024.

Hopefully the small patch of real estate The Patch has graciously provided me has been helpful in creating better visibility for matters regarding Tweed-New Haven Airport. And as you know by now, visibility means everything when you’re flying an airplane.

A word to the local press, “the next time you cover a diversion to Bradley from Tweed, look around, ask your professional colleague Meteorologists what’s brewing. Maybe it’s a storm!

#nbc30

#wtnh8

#wfsb3

#10000hawks