Tweed-New Haven Airport: When nobody is in the Tower.

This article is in preparation for the upcoming:

HVN Air Traffic Control Q&A, Tuesday, October 1. 6:30pm

Nathan Hale School

In my last professional-level commentary to the East Haven Patch, I provided a basic framework from which to base your questions for the upcoming HVN Air Traffic Control Q&A. As I am not an Air Traffic Controller , I approached this commentary by providing you information on what Air Traffic Controllers DO NOT DO. In keeping with this theme, consider the following:

The New Haven Air Traffic Control Tower is staffed from 6am to 10pm on a daily basis. At other times, the airport is “uncontrolled”.

Whoa! What? Wait. Did I just say an airport is “uncontrolled” ? I did. Yes, in the aviation industry we sure can use some strange and often unnerving terms, and this is no exception. But that’s a trademark of aviation.

A flying circus 🎪 going on overhead New Haven is what airport opponents would like you to believe is going on when the HVN Airport Traffic Control Tower is not in operation…and the term uncontrolled when referring to an airport certainly doesn’t instill much faith in safety, does it? As a Pro-Pilot however, I’ll help you understand why they’re wrong.

First things first!
For starters, many thousands of U.S. airports are without Air Traffic Control Towers. Further, and in addition, many hundreds of airports that serve airline traffic have part-time (not 24 hours) Air Traffic Control Towers (HVN being one such). So in this, HVN is far from unique. Airport opponents will tell you otherwise. I will tell you through facts and my own experience, they are misinforming you and trying to persuade you into an anti-airport view with any allegation possible…however untrue it might be.

Secondly, because our Tower closes at 10pm does not mean the airport is closed nor does it mean you should feel peril as airport opponents pray that you do. As I told you above, most airports do not have Air Traffic Control Towers…and they all function on a daily basis (doing so safely I might add). And that’s what this article is about…how aircraft operate safely from airports when “nobody is in the Tower”.

A pattern of safety.

The first matter that keeps everyone safe around an airport when the Air Traffic Control Tower is closed (or non-existent) is the Airport Traffic Pattern. The Airport Traffic Pattern is an established pattern (a circuit) that orients itself around an airport’s given runway. The Airport Traffic Pattern is meant to establish a safe flow of traffic around a runway…whether Air Traffic Control is there or not. It gives order to local flight patterns.

Within this established framework of traffic flow around an airport runway come rules (Federal Aviation Regulations) on how airplanes are to fly within this pattern and how to maneuver within it. This, to include what altitudes airplanes should be at during each segment of the pattern.

The rules pertinent to the traffic pattern and those that directly convey to safety include “Right-of-Way Rules”. These rules provide pilots of all levels, a range of conditions to consider when deciding who is first, second or third to use a runway. These rules also give pilots explicit procedures to follow in various other situations. Just as you know how to interact with other vehicles on the road, Pilots are trained and learn how to interact with other airplanes around an airport. In fact, it’s how pilots learn most of their flying…without a Control Tower! I’m a Flight Instructor…I can tell you this. Can a Hawk?

A word about altitude…again.
There are rules that prohibit airplanes from flying 50 feet over your house as some people claim! In fact, there are countless aviation publications that clearly state FEDERAL AVIATION REGULATIONS that pertain to Airport Traffic Pattern Altitudes..and those are 1,000 feet for Piston engine airplanes and 1,500 feet for Turbine engine (Breeze, Avelo and Private Jets for example). The exception to this altitude rule is for takeoff and landing of course.

Given the above, fanatical claims of planes flying “so low that I could see passengers in the plane” just might be a bit exaggerated. Rest assured, an airport traffic pattern not only includes protocol for pilots to manage the flow of traffic to the runway, but the altitudes to get there. Said another way, no Pilot is going to fly a $91 million jet airliner 50 feet over your house…while “tempting” 😎, there are certain rules against such conduct. I promise.

The Common Traffic Advisory Frequency (CTAF).

When HVN tower is non-operational, the radio frequency (CTAF) is given over to and used by pilots in order to announce their intentions (where they are, their altitude and their intentions) to other pilots. With this ability to communicate, we are then able to coordinate our maneuvers and discuss our plans with one another.

In addition to our knowledge of the presiding rules for flying in the traffic pattern and right-of-way rules, we are able to communicate our intentions with one another. This is standard operating procedure. For those that second-guess this protocol, ask them when the last time it was that they flew a traffic pattern.

On-board Instrumentation.

Modern aircraft instrumentation provides pilots with visual and verbal information as to the location of other aircraft. While this equipment isn’t radar, you can think of it as such. This aircraft instrumentation not only sees where another aircraft is, but it knows the altitude of the other aircraft and whether that airplane is climbing or descending. This equipment knows if the airplane is coming toward you, away from you, and how far away it is from you. Further, if this instrumentation senses a “traffic hazard”, it instructs the pilots of both aircraft how to avoid the hazard. That’s some pretty cool stuff!!!

The above described aircraft instrumentation is called TCAS (Traffic Collision Avoidance System) and is so advanced, that it’s commands take precedence over Air Traffic Controller instructions. This equipment is required on all Avelo and Breeze Airplanes (all Large Transport Category Aircraft) per Federal Regulation. This includes Private Jets too. In addition, most small, piston engine aircraft are equipped with a simpler version of this instrumentation (made available through ADS-B) . But if not, remember, we in the airliner can see the other aircraft on our display.

We’re nearing the end! I promise.
Not only are pilots looking out for one another, not only are they following the rules and procedures set forth for operating to and from an airport, but their aircraft instrumentation is looking out for them!!! Pretty 😎 cool, huh? But there is more!

The omnipresent eye-in-the sky. Ground-based Air Traffic Control Radar.

When the weather (cloud and visibility) falls below a certain criteria, all aircraft that land and takeoff from HVN need a clearance (called an Instrument Flight Plan) to do so. They receive this clearance from Air Traffic Control. But wait! I thought Air Traffic Control went home? They did.

What you don’t often hear about on the subject of Air Traffic Control is the Radar Controller. These are the Air Traffic Controllers nobody sees. They work from dark, windowless facilities, often nowhere near an airport, and are responsible for aircraft landing and taking off from airports with either part-time Air Traffic Control Towers or no Control Towers at all. These controllers work in the TRACON (Terminal Radar Approach Control) and track aircraft on radar only. They work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

These TRACON (New York) Controllers are the Air Traffic Controllers that handle HVN Instrument Flight Rules (IFR Traffic) to and from New Haven AT ALL TIMES….good weather, bad weather, Tower or no Tower. They control New Haven Airspace when the local Control Tower is closed.

In absence of the Control Tower.
While they do not clear us to takeoff or land, TRACON Controllers monitor the area for traffic, they advise us of such traffic and they protect the HVN airspace from other aircraft until we have either landed or reach certain airspace.

Rest assured, I’m sparing you of certain technical details as to the methods of protecting this airspace and why exactly they do so. But what this means for you is that no traffic is permitted into the traffic pattern until the controller has certain requirements met. Again, I’m sparing you so as to not make you actual pilots, but rather informed residents around an airport!

This said, you can consider the immediate airspace around New Haven ( 4 nautical miles radius around and 2,500 feet above) protected by (the local Control Tower when operational) or the TRACON or both. The exactness of this combination is beyond the scope of this article.

Summary.
The vociferous and often vile campaign wagered against Tweed-New Haven Airport is spearheaded by the misinformed, the likes of 10,000 Hawks, Keep Tweed Small & flytweedfacts for example. In their misinformed tirades against airport staff, aviation professionals and elected public officials, they have regrettably soured what could be an exciting and informed community discussion.

Much like an airplane being guided by an An Air Traffic Controller, or flown by its Pilots, perilously close to a mountain, the errant ways of these aforementioned anti-airport groups (and their followers) have misguided many genuinely curious citizens.

While my writing contributions to the community can be a bit lengthy, I feel you deserve the correct and factual description of the Air Transportation System (be it a bit involved at times). My volunteer effort has, and continues to be, to make a safe approach to the proverbial runway by informing you as I would if you were a student of flight…and that is to guide you as far and away from mountains (of misinformation) as possible.

My words and commentary on this matter are not endorsed by any entity. I represent myself to the public merely as a concerned citizen on a matter in which I have a particular set of experiences. My comments on aviation matters are not all encompassing subject material.

Toni Lorenti, Captain.

Airline Transport Pilot, Certificated Flight & Ground Instructor

A220, E-Jet, E145, CE680, ATR42/72