• An NYCAviation member posted new photos of the American Airlines 737 that crashed in Kingston, Jamaica, as it sits in a hangar in many sad pieces. In addition, air traffic controllers at Kingston say they offered the American pilots the option to land in the opposite direction to avoid the tailwind. [NYCAviation, FlightGlobal]
• Charlotte-Douglas International Airport opened its fourth runway today to flights. The 9,000-foot runway 36L/18R received its first aircraft at about 8:10am this morning in the form of Carolinas Aviation Museum’s Piedmont Airlines Douglas DC-3! The first scheduled flights were both US Airways A319s, the second one being the all-smiling PSA bird N742PS.
• Two F-15 fighters escorted a Hawaiian Airlines 767-300 back to Maui after the crew reported a passenger disturbance. A passenger Flight 39 had made threatening remarks and refused ot stow his carry-on bag. the pane landed safely and two passengers involved were arrested.
• Turkish Airlines has signed a deal with Airbus for twenty A320 family aircraft, which will be a mix of A319s and A321s.
• Photos are available for the MD-83 that the Detroit Pistons will soon put into service to replace their smaller DC-9 aircraft. Not too shabby! [Freep]