AVIATION NEWS BRIEFS

*Donald Trump's new private Boeing 757 was unveiled to the public as it landed at New York La Guardia Airport, pictured above, on Wednesday. The 757, registered N757AF, is substantially larger than the 727 Trump jet that was recently sold. The 757, which was previously owned by fellow billionaire Paul Allen, the Microsoft co-founder, had been undergoing maintenance in Georgia for several months, prior to its delivery to the New York based Trump on Wednesday.

*The number of passengers flying through Milwaukee's Mitchell International Airport increased 1.4% in April, compared to April 2010. The total of 844,453 passengers marks April as the 20th straight month of record passenger numbers, fueled by competition among FRONTIER AIRLINES, AIRTRAN AIRWAYS and SOUTHWEST AIRLINES, the latter two of which will be eventually merging their operations. The figures show that MKE is now the 34th busiest Airport in the US, in terms of passenger numbers.

*London Heathrow Airport has opened an extension to Terminal 5, 3 years after inauguration of the main building at the BRITISH AIRWAYS hub. The £340 million ($554 million) satellite extension, designated T5C, has 12 gates including 8 triple-bridged stands for accommodating the Airbus A380. British Airways has12 of the aircraft on order, with the 1st expected in 2013. The satellite extension is the 3rd section of Terminal 5 to open since operations started with the original main building in March 2008. Terminal 5 has handled over 520,000 flights in that time, said a BA spokesman. Linked to the main structure by an underground transit, the extension will provide capacity for an additional 3 million passengers per year. Next year a dedicated transfer baggage tunnel will open between the T5C satellite and Terminal 3.

*BRITISH AIRWAYS recently took delivery of a new Airbus A320 aircraft which means the carrier has acquired 100 aircraft from the airframer's single aisle aircraft family. The carrier has already taken delivery of 2 A318s, 33 A319s, 48 A320s and 16 A321s. The 100th aircraft, the A320 powered by IAE engines, is also the 205th Airbus single aisle delivered to International Airlines Group, which was formed in January 2011 following the merger of British Airways and IBERIA. became an Airbus operator in 1988, when it introduced the A320 in its fleet.

*Airbus has decided not to keep its patented runway overrun prevention system (ROPS) as a "product differentiator", but will release it to competing aircraft builders. The manufacturer says its decision has been spurred by the fact that runway excursion is by far the air transport industry's most common serious accident category. The occurrence rate is also increasing faster than the world fleet is expanding. Airbus said that it has received "a very positive reaction" from Bombardier, Embraer, Dassault, and others, to the proposal to make ROPS commercially available to other manufacturers. ROPS is integrated with the aircraft's flight management and navigation systems, and provides Pilots with a real-time constantly updated picture in the navigation display of where the aircraft will stop on the runway in wet or dry conditions. If the approach profile varies, so does the stopping point. If it will not be possible to stop on the runway, the system provides the crew with a written and spoken "runway too short" warning.

*Following the emergency grounding of the Dassault Falcon 7X fleet on May 26, the European Aviation Safety Agency issued a flight condition approval sheet on Monday, allowing owners to conduct ferry flights to base maintenance stations. The US FAA issued an equivalent approval for US-registered aircraft on Tuesday. Dassault says that "several aircraft have been ferried back to their home base since". Dassault's investigation has confirmed that, in the incident on May 25 in Malaysia that sparked the original EASA emergency airworthiness directive, the Falcon 7X's control laws operated normally, which has allowed the development of a safe ferry procedure using the aircraft's digital flight control system in "normal" mode. The aircraft landed safely. Dassault went on to say: "The on-site investigation of the aircraft that experienced the pitch trim anomaly is complete, but it did not reveal the root cause. Further analysis of the trim control equipment from that aircraft will be conducted at Dassault Aviation laboratories starting today".

*Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) has unveiled its 20-year masterplan for the future development of the Airport, which includes the possibility of building a 3rd runway. A 3rd runway is 1 of 2 options presented by the Master Plan 2030 released by Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK), which today began a 3 month consultation on the document to collect feedback. The other option presented by the plan is to maintain the 2 runway system at the Airport but expand the Airport's terminal and apron facilities to boost capacity. Officials said the current 2 runway system is forecast to be saturated by around 2020. In 2010, the Airport handled 51 million passengers, which is already 90% of its capacity.

*QANTAS said it hopes 350 staff, or about 5%of its cabin crew, will take up voluntary redundancy, as the Airline tries to cut costs in the face of rising jet fuel prices. All of the 7000 carrier’s cabin crew were contacted yesterday and asked to give expressions of interest in the redundancy program. However, the numbers are not expected to be finalized until July when the expressions of interest process is completed. Cabin crew have been assured that there would be no forced redundancies. The last time Qantas made such as call was in 2008, when 150 cabin crew took up its offer.

*The NTSB has released its Final Report into an incident involving a NORTHWEST AIRLINES A320 at Fargo, North Dakota, on October 20, 2007. On that date, Flight 1432 was on Domestic Service from Minneapolis/St Paul, Minnesota, to Fargo, North Dakota, with 134 passengers and crew onboard. While climbing out of MSP, the crew received a Brake and Steering Control Unit (BSCU) 2 fault message. For the remainder of the flight to Fargo, the crew troubleshooted the problem and expected to make a normal landing. The A320 touched down normally on Fargo's runway 36, spoilers and thrust reversers were deployed as usual, but when the nose gear touched down, vibrations were felt and tower advised there were flames near the nose gear. The tower called out Emergency Services upon seeing those flames. The vibrations increased through the slow down, however the flames dissipated as the aircraft came to a stop. No one onboard was injured. In their Preliminary Report, the NTSB said the the Airbus landed with the nose gear turned by 90 degrees. Half of the nose wheels and tir assemblies were ground down, however the nose gear was the only part of the aircraft that received damage. In the NTSB Final Report, the agency said the Probable Cause of the incident was: "The failure of the Brake and Steering Control Unit, which allowed the nose landing gear to turn to the 90-degree position". The full Report, which details events from takeoff, actions taken by the crew during the flight, and the investigation results, can be found on the NTSB website.

*DELTA AIRLINES Flight 1902, a Boeing 767, had to make an emergency landing in Atlanta, Georgia, yesterday, June 2. The crew declared an emergency while on approach to Atlanta, reporting unspecified problems with the left hand engine. The 767 landed safely and was met by Emergency Services as it turned off the runway. The left hand engine was reported emitting smoke at that time. Passengers were offloaded onto the taxiway and bussed to the terminal. The aircraft, which was inbound from Las Vegas, Nevada, was removed from service for inspection and repairs.

*AIR CANADA Flight 860, a Boeing 767, had to make an emergency diversion to Montreal, QC, Canada, yesterday, June 2. While climbing thru 20000 feet, after taking off from Halifax, NS, Canada, a loug bang emitted from the left hand engine. The crew shut the left hand engine down and discussed with ATC their options. Due to heavy thunderstorms moving in over the Halifax Airport, and other aircraft already diverted, diversions to Moncton, NB, and Sydney, NS, were both considered, before it was agreed that Flight 860 would divert to Montreal. The aircraft landed safely in Montreal, about 2.5 hours after its initial departure from Halifax for London Heathrow. Air Canada said the cause of the engine failure is under investigation, however they have already ruled out a lightning strike.

*REGIONAL CAE Flight 3252, an ERJ145 on service for AIR FRANCE, had to make an emergency landing in Dusseldorf, Germany, yesterday, June 2. While on approach to Dusseldorf, inbound from Toulouse, France, the Co-Pilot declared an emergency, reporting that the Captain had fallen ill. Shortly thereafter, the Co-Pilot reported that the Captain had fallen unconscious. The ERJ went on to make a safe landing with the Co-Pilot at the controls and Emergency Services met the aircraft. There is no word on the Captain's condition.

*RYANAIR Flight 3512, a Boeing 737, had to make an emergency diversion to Porto, Portugal, yesterday, June 2, due to engine problems. While enroute from Lanzarote, CI, Spain, to London Luton, the crew requested the diversion to Porto, due to unspecified engine problems. The aircraft landed without incident was removed from service for inspection. According to media reports, smoke was observed emitting from an engine, however Ryanair said there was no smoke and the diversion was done strictly as a precaution.

*TRANSAERO Flight 9764, a Boeing 767, had to make an emergency diversion to Rostov, Russia, yesterday, June 2, due to the failure of the left hand fuel pumps. The aircraft, which was enroute from Abu Dhabi, UAE, to Moscow, Russia, landed safely and was then removed from service for repairs. The incident aircraft had positioned to Abu Dhabi on April 10 for major maintenance and the aircraft was being flown back to Russia yesterday with the maintenance complete, when this incident occurred. Russian aviation officals are investigating.

*DELTA AIRLINES Flight 257, a Boeing 767, blew an aft inboard right main gear tire on totation for takeoff from Detroit, Michigan, on Wednesday, June 1. No problems were noted as the aircraft lifted off and the landing gear retracted normally. The crew decided to continue on to Sao Paulo, Brazil, where they landed without incident. The 767 was then removed from service for repairs.

*AIR CANADA Flight 308, an ERJ190, encountered severe turbulence while on approach to Washington National, on Tuesday, May 3. The incident was just disclosed yesterday. While descending thru 24000 feet, about 120 miles from National, and with the seat belt signs turned on, the ERJ, which was inbound from Toronto, ON, Canada, encountered the turbulence. The crew continued on to make a safe landing at National about 25 minutes later. In its report on the incident, the Canadian TSB said the Flight Attendant onboard suffered minor injuries. No other details were released.