AVIATION NEWS BRIEFS

*The PBS program NOVA has investigated the crash of AIR FRANCE Flight 447 and will premiere the results of their investigation on a special set to air on October 26, 2010. NOVA put together a team of safety experts, engineers and Pilots, to examine what went wrong on June 1, 2009, and why the crew flew straight into a towering thunderstorm. All 228 passengers and crew onboard Flight 447 were killed when the A330 went down in the Atlantic Ocean while on service from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. The investigation into the crash continues and has been hampered by the inability to find and recover the black boxes.

*FINNAIR has announced that they will reveal a new corporate logo, livery, cabin interior design, uniforms and product upgrade in December 2010. Media reports say that the upcoming delivery of their 8th A333 will be the 1st aircraft to sport the new livery.

*MALEV HUNGARIAN AIRLINES Flight 200, on International Boeing 737 Service from Budapest, Hungary, to Istanbul, Turkey, with 100 passengers and crew onboard, had to reject takeoff from Budapest after suffering a bird strike, yesterday, September 21. The crew was able to stop the aircraft on the runway. Emergency Services responded and cooled the hot brakes. No damage was found during a post flight inspection, thus the 737 was allowed to depart for Istanbul 3 hours later. Flight 200 arrived in Istanbul without incident.

*UM UKRAINIAN MEDITERRANEAN AIRLINES Flight 202, on International DC9 Service from Beirut, Lebanon, to Kiev, Ukraine, with 91 passengers and 7 crew members onboard, had to make an emergency return, yesterday, September 21. While climbing out of Beirut, a bird was ingested into an engine, causing the engine to surge. The DC9 returned to Beirut without incident and was removed from service for a damage assessment and repairs. According to local media reports, the aircraft suffered an engine explosion and fire, however Airport officials said the engine only suffered technical problems after the bird strike. They denied there had been an engine fire.

*ARIK AIR Flight 104, on International A330 Service from Johannesburg, South Africa, to Lagos, Nigeria, completed its flight without incident, on Monday, September 20. During a post flight inspection, a body of an apparent stowaway was found in a wheel well. No futher details were released and the incident is under investigation by Nigerian officials.

*AEROGAL Flight 700, on International Boeing 767 Service from Guayaquil, Ecuador, to New York JFK, approached the wrong runway at JFK, on Sunday, September 19. Flight 700 was cleared to land on runway 13L, while at the same time another airliner had just been cleared for takeoff from runway 13R. The crew onboard an airliner that was still in the queue for takeoff notified the tower that there was an aircraft on approach to runway 13R. Tower staff notified the Aerogal crew to go-around and they landed without incident on ruwnay 13L on their 2nd approach. The incident is under investigation.

*EASYJET Flight 3364, on International A319 Service from Naples, Italy, to London Stansted, with 144 passengers and 6 crew members onboard, had to make an emergency return, on Friday, September 17. About 15 minutes after departure, the crew requested return due to the smell of smoke in the passenger cabin. The A319 landed back at Naples without incident and was then removed from service for inspection.