Tweed New Haven Airport FAA Contract Tower Program / Sequestration UPDATE, March 11, 2013 NOTICE: FAA

METHODOLOGY: FAA sent formal notice to the City of New Haven and Tweed New Haven Airport that the FAA will shut down the air traffic control tower at Tweed on April 7, 2013. FAA identified for closure the contract towers at airports with fewer than 150,000 total operations and fewer than 10,000 commercial operations. Tweed is well-below these thresholds at 38,870 total operations and 2,602 commercial operations. The FAA will accept appeal letters through March 13, 2013 and make final decisions by March 18, 2013. Negative impact on the national interest is the only criterion the FAA will use for deciding to continue services to an airport that falls below the activity threshold. National interest considerations include: (1) significant threats to the national security as determined by the FAA in consultation with the Department of Defense or the Department of Homeland Security; (2) significant, adverse economic impact that is beyond the impact on a local community; (3) significant impact on multi-state transportation, communication or banking/financial networks; and (4) the extent to which an airport currently served by a contract tower is a critical diversionary airport to a large hub. Tweeds appeal is most closely aligned with (2) and from a control perspective (4). 1. Medical /Life Safety: Of the airports on the proposed list for Contract Tower closure, Tweed is one of the only airports in the country within 3 miles of a Tier 1 Trauma Center, Yale-New Haven Hospital. Over 400 documented air ambulance movements a year arrive at Tweed en route to Yale-New Haven Hospital, in addition to frequent organ transplant deliveries via general aviation aircraft and emergency medical helicopter landings to and from Hospital property. These flights depend on directions issued by personnel in the ATC Tower at Tweed. Retaining a Contract Tower at Tweed supports air access to a Tier 1 Trauma Center in the event of a largescale disaster in the region. 2. Federal Facilities: Tweed is located within 6 miles of the U.S. Veterans Administration Hospital in West Haven, Connecticut, one of only two in the state. Approximately 50 flights per year organized by non-profit agencies such as Angel Flight and Patient Airlift Services transport military veterans to and from the Veterans Hospital. These medical flights are conducted by volunteer pilots who rely on voice communication with the ATC Tower at Tweed to safely land and take off with the veterans who are in their care. 3. Complicated Air Space: Flight paths to and from Tweed intersect with one of the most complex air traffic networks in the country, New York TRACON. Aircraft passing through New York metro air space rely on the Tweed ATC Tower to sequence them safely into local traffic for landing and to receive flight directions and releases for take-off. Closure of the ATC Tower at Tweed leaves this traffic without guidance, creating high safety risks. These risks are aggravated by micro-weather patterns typical of a shoreline location. An automated weather system (ASOS) is not adequate to give pilots guidance on variable wind conditions, fog and haze over Long Island Sound. Closure of the Contract Tower at Tweed would adversely affect the national interest by impairing public safety in a large and densely populated area. 4. Legacy Air Carrier: Of the airports on the proposed list for Contract Tower closure, Tweed is the only airport in the five New England states with scheduled commercial

APPEAL:

NATIONAL INTEREST:

TWEEDS APPEAL:

airline passenger service. The proposed action jeopardizes the legacy air carriers overall schedule, routing and aircraft deployment. 5. Emergency Relief Services: Tweed has provided air access to Federal officials in five (5) declared national emergencies in the last three years. For instance, after Hurricanes Irene and Sandy, Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano, and FEMA officials flew in and out of Tweed because all other Connecticut airports on the shoreline were flooded. Closure of the Contract Tower at Tweed jeopardizes timely access by Federal representatives in an emergency to the northern coast of Long Island Sound. SUPPORT: Delegation letter (attached)