Icelandic ash cloud to keep UK skies closed 'til Saturday
UK air-traffic authorities have confirmed that flights will remain grounded until at least the early hours of Saturday morning as dangerous ash clouds from an Icelandic volcano continue to blanket the nation. Volcanic ash graphic 16 April 2010. Credit: London VAAC Pesky volcano. The National Air Traffic Service (NATS), …
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Living as I do within earshot of the Heathrow approaches
last night was another of those odd times where you only notice the impact of noise in modern life by its absence. Between that and the cooling effect of the added sulphur and dust in the atmosphere allied to reduced emissions from aicraft, just watch the usual loons jump about insisting that more volcanos are just what we need
But how
Are we going to nuke the site from orbit if we can't take off?
Anyone know of another way to be safe?
VAACs
According to the Met Office, there are only 7 VAACs worldwide. London VAAC is operated by the Met Office, naturally, as they are the guys with the wind modelling tech. It is the control centre for the zone including Iceland, and it is in charge of some of the busiest airspace in the world (most transatlantic travel whether by sea or air tracks away from the equator to take advantage of the reduced circumference of the Earth). It may not be needed every day, but it's a massively important role.
http://metoffice.com/aviation/vaac/index.html
Have none of you commentards ever heard of Google?
Re VAACs
"Have none of you commentards ever heard of Google?"
Of course. But we prefer humorous postings. It just sounds funny.
Just Wait
If you continue to piss Iceland off, they might bring in the big guns and have Katla erupt instead. Much easier to pronounce, and much deeper shit.
Is going to happen..
.. if history is any guide. At the moment it doesn't exhibit any signs of an impending eruption, but that's because the unpronounceable is still at it. A bit like the US economic warfare against Switzerland: let's not talk about another bank until we've done one to death (and the Swiss fell for it, hahaha).
Re: But How
Use the current Space Shuttle mission to divert a passing comet and use it to plug the leak.
Someone get my script agent on the phone...
"Plugging" a volcano?
Use a tactical nuke. You know; one of those "useless" battlefield weapons?
There'll be a bigger bang in a shorter time, allowing a lot of pressure to vent but the area will collapse back in fairly quickly. The method's been theorised for longer than tac. nukes have been available.
But you might want to consider evacuation prior to dropping the bomb.
Re. plugging a volcano with a nuke.
"you might want to consider evacuation prior to dropping the bomb"
Umm, there is the little matter of radioactive fallout to contend with - if you screw up the next cloud will be easier to detect..
I know the culprit behind this
I recently cancelled my EvE Online account in order to pay for a flight to Denmark. Damn you CCP! *shakes fist*
Dust 514
CCP just released Dust514 early is all. As usual QA had one of their usual epic fails and the consequences are plain for all to see........
Speaking of which...
I was just in the Eve Online forums and spotted a thread on the volcano.
It's pretty disheartening to see that all the players care about is the continued operation of the servers - absolutely no consideration for the staff or other people of Iceland. So don't anyone believe it when they're told "mature people" play Eve Online.
The global press is no better. The only thing that's important is our own asses - i.e. flights and stocks of cheese. Nobody seems to give a shit about the Icelanders, unless it's at the butt of a joke.
consolation
Those stranded in airport terminal buildings can at least console themselves that those great big glass windows will give a wonderful view of a spectacular sunset this evening...
Am I the only one
who finds it suspicious that Iceland has just finished their inquiry on the failure of their banks. And we now have vast plumes of smoke and ask coming from Iceland.
Call me cynical if you like, but I think someone should look into this.
it's pure bad luck
that the tape vaults for all Icelandic banks was built on the side of Eyjafjallajoekull
grenade: because the Icelandic government have been lobbing them down the volcano for months!
Low Flying Helicoptors
Call me a bit cynical but should the skies be closed to all forms of air transport? Would be a bit pissed off myself, if I was stuck on some oil rig and losing out on my shore leave.
BBC Helicopter footage of erupting volcano in Iceland
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8586442.stm
I am no expert in aviation or volcanology but I would even have a bet that there would be more particles of ash in the air in the footage above, than could ever be encountered today, drifting at low alititude hundreds of miles away, over the North Sea.
A conspiracy of ignorance but sadly without the black helicopters.
@moonface
Particles entering jet engines melt and soldify during the latter stages of the engine, knackering it.
These helicopter engines don't get hot enough.
Helicopter engines
Would be affected by the ash as well if only in terms of blade erosion, however you can put filters on their intakes without causing a drop in performance whereas on a fixed wing aircraft it's not possible. The hot bit still gets to 600 degree C minimum so it can still cause problems.
The big difference for the helicopter filming the volcano is that all the ash etc. is in that big well concentrated cloud coming out of the hole in the ground making it nice and easy to avoid, by the time it gets here it's much more spread out and intermingled with the clouds. I do wonder if there's actually a problem in areas where the visibility is greater than say five KM as that'd imply the concentrations of dust aren't that great.
re: filters
"you can put filters on their intakes without causing a drop in performance"
Until the filters clog up and restrict airflow.
Not the filters we are used to
"Filters" was not the best word. What is used is something like a bowler hat. A semi-circle put in the front of the engine.
When it sucks the air in, the special format of the filter creates a vortex, wich sucks away the dust trough a small point.
It can be overloaded, of course. But it doesn't clog up like the filters we are used to.
Here, in wikipedia, we can find a mention on it (the "PZU air intake filters"):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mil_Mi-24
Not closed for all aircraft
Lower flying aircraft are allowed, helicopters, small planes and turboprops can fly as they stay under the altitude of the cloud.
UK != England
There have been (some) flights in and out of Glasgow/Prestwick this morning, and I believe Northern Ireland as well.
May I express my sympathy
for all those that bought a house near an airport.
Surely someone should have mentioned somewhere along the line that planes take-off and land there?
Next winter will be bitterly cold
On past form we can expect significant cooling of the northern hemisphere caused by the ash cloud.
Next winter is going to be a great deal worse than the last one. I'm not a climate expert but I can tell that a few months of solid freeze will have a much larger economic impact than a few days of air travel restrictions. It will also seriously disrupt everybody, not just air-passengers.
How about until Monday?
I live near Standstead and it's been so quiet last day, perhaps a nice quiet weeked would be too much too ask?
maybe then...
... you might take the time to learn to spell it
Last time
Last time this volcano erupted it was active for two years. This was many hundreds of years ago.
One can only hope it will put planes out of the sky for two years :-) maybe then people will use less polluting methods of transport and the government will scrap a third runway at Heathrow.
Re: last time
Tell me a faster way to get to the States and I won't frown at you so disapprovingly.
In fact, maybe we should all "drive" to Italy rather than fly?
And which...
...less polluting form of transport do you suggest I use to get from the US to the UK and back again this summer? Bearing in mind that I don't have an extra spare week to spend going by boat, and swimming is clearly out of the question.
This sort of enviro-numpty idiocy is why the Green movement is not, and may never be, taken seriously by the people it needs to be taken seriously by.
They will just build better engines.
With both RR and Airbus having facilities affected by this, if it lasts longer than a week I imagine they will have designers locked up in rooms making plans for dust-proof engines, which they can then sell at a massive profit.
Can't roll back time you know. We have moved on from the horse and cart already.
I suggest .....
A piece of fibre-optic cable. Or a microwave link to a satellite.
Your sort will probably still be complaining that you can't buy filament light bulbs on the day the power stations shut down for want of fuel.
There are alternatives..
Concord could fly at 70k feet - above the ash, I believe - ooopps no more Concord.
This event demonstrates nicely the adverse effects of 'eggs in one basket'. Fast Ships can traverse the Oceans. High Speed rail can move goods and people. (Ask PO if post can still be sorted on trains in Transit)
However, we don't have a competitive & complete European High speed rail system nor fast ships or other volume alternatives. We didn't need to rely on planes but, sadly, now we do for too many things.
Our political and economic masters have so decreed. TINA. A bit like banks, really.
If business demands that all costs be minimised and that the systems become like highly tuned racehorses or cars don't be surprised if, occasionally, a "tits-up" moment occurs and things crash to a stop. Flexibility comes at a cost. JIT may become JTL.
That being said it would, however, upset me if I was just about to go on/return from a holiday or other important trip by air. I'd probably live though.
Slice of Luck
"All Eurostar cross-channel seats are reportedly sold out"
I was in Paris on the day the ash cloud appeared and was due to fly back to good ol' Blighty. Supposedly, the next free seat on a Eurostar was Saturday. However, that was no problem for the nice SNCF lady in Charles de Gaulle; she gave me a ticket for a non-existent train and this confused the Eurostar staff enough to let me wait at the departure gate for one of those "extra" seats that become free at the last minute (usually people who don't turn up, but also those "seats" in the carriage ends which cannot be sold).
The ticket may have cost me over £200, but I was back in the UK by 6pm.
Had to take the train to Lille....
from Gare Nord, and pick up the Eurostar from there. Extortionate, but after 12 hours of travelling I finally got home. The usual flight takes 2!
I've had better days
Ash, schmash
What about the gigantic squirrel threatening UK and mainland Europe?
Without a boat?
I don't think the wrong kind of ash has closed the channel tunnel yet!
It hasn't
The wrong type of snow however is something else....
Volcano?
It's been lovely and sunny here in Edinburgh for days. There's not a cloud in the sky, never mind any ash...
why..
does the cloud ending up looking like a woman's shoe??
anyone listen to radio4 last night
there was one lady who said she lived right next to a airport and was suffering unending noise pollution.....
till yesterday!, she was positively quiveringly happy, utter silence, she took the reporter out the back of her garden and asked.."can you hear that?... to utter silence, "to what?" replied the reporter, "nothing" replied the unbelievably happy lady :D "i can hear the birds for the very first time ever! whilst living here :D))) "
it was really funny
i wonder how the airlines will spin this disaster....
'Closing down sale..Everyone MUST GO'
'special one way-one day only tickets, never to return (to europe)'
'Ash-(Monday/insert particular day) specials'
'having a particularly bad week, hop on a flight and be ASHurred of a smooth flight away...'
Sod the passengers, what about freight?
It'll be interesting to see which food supplies become scarce on the shelves in UK supermarkets.
If you hate it so much why live there etc
My house has been put under a flight path in just the past 12 months (well not just my house - that would be really vindictive) it's not always that simple
On the Move
Didn't you ask what was happening when they started moving your house? I'm sorry, but that was your chance to stop this.
Seeing things in the clouds...
Is it me, or does the cloud look a bit like a giant vulture (beak on the right, wings over Scandinavia?
Is there something the Reg isn't telling us?
Icelandic Vengeance!!
Those cunning Icelanders... First they rename the volcano (it was probably something like "Bob" before this) and then they arrange for the volcano to erupt. Doubtless they are having a blast back home, having tied up both European airspace and tongues in one fell swoop!!
@Icelandic Vengeance!!
"Eyjafjallajoekull" /is/ Icelandic for "Bob".
Aerospace closures
Please be aware that all the closure advisories so far have been couched in the following terms:
UK airspace will be closed/restricted until x:xx at the earliest etc.
That is not an estimated time for all air traffic to resume, it's the earliest time that the ash cloud could dissipate if a miracle happened.
Windows
consolation #
Posted Friday 16th April 2010 11:04 GMT
Those stranded in airport terminal buildings can at least console themselves that those great big glass windows will give a wonderful view of a spectacular sunset this evening...
Except in BAA run airports where the big glass windows have been obscured my luxury goods shops, fast food joints etc ..
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