AVIATION NEWS BRIEFS

SHARPISH-KANE NOTE/ MAY 13,2011: Blogger suffered a 20 hour outage, that ended earlier this afternoon. During the outage, all postings from May 11 and 12 disappeared, however most were restored when Blogger went back online. Unfortunately, all SK aviation stories from May 11 were not restored, including the remainder of Aviation News Briefs on this posting. SK apologizes for the loss of information.

*DELTA AIRLINES Flight 1102, an A320, reported an unruly passenger onboard, while enroute from Orlando, Florida, to Boston, Massachusetts, last evening, May 10. According to media reports, an intoxicated male passenger attempted to open the exit door that he was sitting next to. He was overpowered by an off duty Boston Police officer who was onboard as a passenger. Upon arrival in Boston, law enforcement boarded the plane at the gate, pictured above, and arrested the man, who faces multiple federal charges.

*HORIZON AIR Flight 2363, a Dash 8-400 on service for ALASKA AIRLINES, had to make an emergency diversion to Yakima, Washington, yesterday, May 10. While enroute from Boise, Idaho, to Seattle, Washington, the crew reported they had shut down the right hand engine due to low oil pressure. The Dash was then diverted to Yakima, where they safely landed about 30 minutes later. The aircraft was removed from service for repairs.

*SOUTHWEST AIRLINES Flight 542, a Boeing 737, had to make an emergency diversion to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, yesterday, May 10, due to smoke in the cockpit. While enroute from Kansas City, Missouri, to Dallas Love Field, Texas, the crew reported smoke in the cockpit due to a malfunctioning heating element in the windscreen. The aircraft diverted to Oklahoma City, where they landed about 30 minutes later and were met by Emergency Services. No trace of heat, smoke or fire was found. The 737 was removed from service for repairs.

*DELTA AIRLINES Flight 2187, an MD88, had to make an emergency return to Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport, yesterday, May 10. While on their initial climb, the crew declared an emergency, reporting a burning smell in the rear of the passenger cabin. As the crew leveled off at 2000 feet, they reported a fire onboard and controllers dispatched Emergency Services for the landing. On final approach, the crew told ATC controllers that the intense burning smell was causing them concern, due to some electrical problems prior to departure. The MD88 landed safely back at Cincinnati about 9 minutes after their initial departure and was met by Emergency Services on the runway. The Emergency teams found no trace of heat, smoke or fire, but did report seeing steam. The aircraft was cleared to taxi to the gate, where passengers were then offloaded. The MD88, which was enroute to Orlando, Florida, was removed from service for a full inspection.

*A CITYJET Fokker 50 suffered substantial damages as it was being prepared for departure in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, yesterday, May 10. According to media reports, while undergoing routine technical checks prior to departure, both main gear suddenly collapsed. No one was injured. The fuselage was damaged in the incident, with wrinkles appearing in multiple places on the airframe. It is not yet clear if the Fokker, pictured above after the accident, can be repaired or if it will need to be written off. Dutch aviation officials are investigating.

*IBERIA Flight 6673, an A340, had to make an emergency return to Madrid, Spain, yesterday, May 10. About 1 hour after depature from Madrid for Caracas, Venezuela, the cockpit windshield cracked. They crew descended from 31000 to 16000 feet and returned to Madrid, where they safely landed about 100 minutes later. The Airbus was then removed from service for repairs.

*AUSTRIAN AIRLINES Flight 601, an A321, had to return to Vienna, Austria, yesterday, May 10. According to media reports, the A321 was enroute from Vienna to Moscow, Russia, and about 1 hour after departure, when the onboard lavatories failed. The Airbus landed back in Vienna about 70 minutes later and was then removed from service for repairs.

*RED WINGS Flight 9823, a Tupolev TU204, had to make an emergency return to Samara, Russia, yesterday, May 10, after the crew could not full retract the nose gear. The Tupolev, which was enroute to Antalya, Turkey, landed safely back in Samara about 1 hour after its initial departure. The aircraft was removed from service for repairs.

*CONTINENTAL AIRLINES Flight 816, a Boeing 737, had to make an emergency landing in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Monday, May 9, after striking a bird at 11500 feet, while on approach into New Orleans. The aircraft, which was inbound from Newark, New Jersey, landed safely about 10 minutes later. The 737 was removed from service due to damage to its radome.

*QANTAS Flight 5, a Boeing 747, had to make an emergency landing Singapore, on Monday, May 11. The aircraft was about 1 hour from landing in Singapore, on a flight from Sydney, Australia, when engine No.4 began to show unusually high exhaust temperatures and then began vibrating. The crew shut the engine down and continued on for a safe landing. The aircraft, registration VH-OJH and pictured above, will need the engine replaced. According to media reports today from Sydney, a passenger onboard Flight 5 said he heard what sounded like an explosion before the plane rolled and "suddenly lost altitude". The man said he was relaxing in the premium economy section of the Boeing 747 on Monday evening when he heard a "large" noise. "It sounded like an explosion from the right hand side of the plane, the plane rolled a little, there was an (sic) noticeable increase in the air pressure on board, then the plane suddenly lost altitude". According to another passenger, who said that flames emitted from the engine for about 2 minutes, the Captain told passengers when the plane landed in Singapore, that an engine had failed. Qantas this morning denied that the engine failed and disputed the extent of the flames, but said an engine had to be shut down.

*AIR CANADA Flight 562, an ERJ190, had to make an emergency return to Vancouver, BC, Canada, on Thursday, May 6. While climbing thru 1000 feet, the crew reported the failure of the left hand engine. They continued to climb, before leveling off at 5000 feet and returned to Vancouver about 20 minutes later, without incident. The ERJ, which was enroute to San Francisco, California, was removed from service. According to the Canadian TSB, the engine suffered an uncommanded shut down due to a dual channel failure of the FADEC. The FADEC was replaced and sent to the manufacturer for analysis.