AVIATION NEWS BRIEFS

*Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport is claiming a world first with the opening of an Airport park with an indoor and an outdoor section. The indoor section, which has trees, shrubs, logs, grass, seating and a cafe selling organic coffee and fresh fruit juices, has natural light filtered through fibre optic cables and tube lighting. Surrounding it are images of famous parks around the world with a soundtrack of birds tweeting, children playing and bicycle bells. The park, pictured above, also has energy generating stationary bikes that people can ride to generate power to charge their mobile phones. This is also not the 1st innovation at Schiphol Airport: it also has a branch of of Amsterdam's famous Rijksmuseum in the departure lounge and a library for travellers.

*SINGAPORE AIRLINES is going to reduce the seating density on its remaining Airbus A380s by 13%, slashing the economy-class cabin in favor of more business class accommodation. The carrier is to fit just 409 seats in the 8 outstanding A380s which it has on order. SIA's in-service fleet of 11 A380s are configured with 471 seats. These comprise 12 first class and 60 business class seats, plus an economy cabin seating 399. While the 12 first class suites will stay, the business class seating will be increased to 86 in the 8  aircraft yet to be delivered. The economy-class seating will be cut back to 311 seats. SIA has not detailed the precise layout of the aircraft but its current 471 seat A380s have 311 economy seats on the lower deck, which could indicate that the 88 upper-deck economy seats will be replaced by 26 business class seats, giving the A380 an all business upper deck. This reconfiguration will also mean SIA will operate one of the lowest-density A380s in the global fleet. Only KOREAN AIR LINES has fewer seats, having declared a 407 seat layout for its A380s, the 1st of which will be handed over on May 24.

*Argentine aviation officials remain on the scene of the crash of SOL LINEAS AEREAS Flight 5428 near Los Menucos, sifting through the wreckage for clues. Although investigators continue to say there is no evidence of why the Saab 340A went down on Wednesday evening, icing is suspected. According to one media report today, the Captain of Flight 5428 had requested to descend from 6200 feet to 3700 feet due to icing. Shortly thereafter, the Captain declared an emergency and the Saab disappeared from radar. A new eyewitness has also come forward and told investigators that he saw the aircraft flying "too low," with its "lights on," followed by a "fireball at terrain level". The Captain of the flight had over 8000 hours of flight experience and other Pilots told Argentine media that he was skilled at handling all types of emergencies. All 22 passengers and crew onboard the Saab were killed in the crash.

*The NTSB has issued its Final Report into an incident involving a KALITTA AIR Boeing 747 at Bogota, Colombia, on August 26, 2008. Colombia's Aeronautica Civil de Colombia had requested the US NTSB to conduct the investigation. Kalitta Flight 264 was on Cargo Service from Bogota to Miami, Florida, when it suffered the failure of engine No.3 on takeoff from Bogota. The crew circled to dump fuel, before landing safely back in Bogota, about 1.5 hours after its initial departure. In their Final Report, the NTSB said the Probable Cause of the engine failure was: "The combination of fan blade edge contour, variable blade trim, and the high altitude, which resulted in an engine surge". The full Report can be found on the NTSB website.

*AIRTRAN Flight 1219, a Boeing 717, had to make an emergency diversion to Indianapolis, Indiana, yesterday, May 20. The 717 had departed Chicago Midway and was on its initial climb, when the crew halted their climb at 24000 feet, reporting that 5 passengers were complaining of feeling unwell and light headed. Shortly thereafter, the crew requested diversion to Indianapolis, where they landed safely about 30 minutes later. The 5 passengers were treated at the Airport by Emergency Services. The aircraft was removed from service for inspection and a replacement 717 was brought in to complete the flight to Sarasota, Florida.

*JETBLUE Flight 819, an A320, had to return to New York JFK, yesterday, May 20, to offload an unruly passenger. According to reports, while enroute to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and overhead the Atlantic at 35000 feet, the cabin crew notified the Captain of an unruly passenger. The passenger, who was an off duty TSA screener traveling on a staff pass that he had received from a friend who worked for JetBlue, was demanding to sit in the cabin crew seats. Unable to rectify the situation, the Captain decided to return to JFK, where the Airbus landed about 2.5 hours after its initial departure. The male passenger was offloaded. It is not known if any charges will be filed.

*TRANSCARGA INTERNATIONAL AIRWAYS Flight 8018, a Swearingen Merlin IV, suffered minor damage when its nosegear collapsed upon landing in Carcas, Venezuela, yesteday, May 20. The aircraft was on Cargo Service from Curacao to Caracas, when the incident took place upon landing on the runway 10. The Pilot onboard was transported to hospital for treatement of minor injuries. Venezuelan aviation officials have opened an investigation.

*A TAM A320 had to make an emergency landing in Salvador, Brazil, yesterday, May 20, due to a bomb threat from an unruly passenger. According to media reports, the aircraft was enroute from Porto Seguro to Sao Paulo, with a stop in Salvador, when an unruly male passenger told cabin crew he had a bomb and was going to "blow up the aircraft". The passenger was restrained and the Captain declared an emergency, reporting the nature of the emergency to controllers. The aircraft was met by Federal Police, who took the man into custody. No explosives were found during a search of the Airbus and the aircraft was later released to continue on to Sao Paulo. Charges are expected to be filed today against the passenger.

*SPANAIR Flight 57, an A320, lost radio communication while enroute over Belgium, yesterday, May 20. The Airbus was enroute from Barcelona, Spain to Stockholm, Sweden, and was enroute over Belgium at 36000 feet, when radio communication between the aircraft and controllers was lost around 1:20pm, just as the aircraft was handed off to Dutch ATC. Two Dutch F16 aircraft were dispatched to intercept the airliner. Shortly after visual contact was made, radio communications were restored. The F16s escorted the aircraft out of the Netherlands and the airliner continued on to Stockholm, where it landed without incident.

*EMIRATES Flight 6, a Boeing 777, had to make an emergency diversion to Vienna, Austria, yesterday, May 20. While enroute from London Heathrow to Dubai, UAE, and near Bucharest, Romania, at 39000 feet, the crew declared an emergency, reporting an aft cargo fire indication. The crew then turned the aircraft around and diverted to Vienna, where they landed safely about 70 minutes later. Emergency Services found no trace of heat, smoke or fire. The same aircraft, registration A6-EMX and pictured above, had diverted to Vienna on Thursday, May 19, while enroute from Dubai to Heathrow, for the very same reason. Emergency Services found no trace of heat, smoke or fire and later cleared the aircraft to continue on to Heathrow. When it departed Heathrow yesterday, the aft cargo fire supression system was inoperative and the aft cargo compartment was empty. The aircraft was removed from service in Vienna for a full inspection.