The Race To Ash Covered Europe Begins

[WhiteBlue]

I have no doubt that there are areas which are dangerously contaminated. The problem begins when a complete continent is closed down to protect against flying in 10% dangerous areas. They need to conduct patrol flights to beef up the simulations with real world data.

I bet the scientists do not have many volcano eruptions with real data to tune their models and boundary conditions. If the government rejects the help offer of the airlines it endangers other life. Medical evacuations and organ transplant flights have been cancelled. On top there are hundred thousands of passengers stranded around the world piling up to millions soon. The economic damage is considerable.

[elsab]

some more info for those who are interested...

Volcanic Hazards and Aviation Safety – Background Information : http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/201020SRGInfoAlert.pdf as distributed by the UK CAA Civil Aviation Authority

and

UK Met Office Update : http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/corporate/p ... dates.html There is a good slide show at the bottom projecting the ash cloud movement for the next two days.

I would be very surprised if there will be any flights going into the UK this week, BA sending up a plane with a crew of four and Willi Walsh in is one thing, but if a plane full of passengers were came down... well that's the sort of thing that will put an airline out of business.

It seems the Airlines are just getting irritated due to the lack of research planes up doing tests.

I can't believe any airline would ignore the recommendations of the International Civil Aviation Organization or the UK Civil Aviation Authority.

[autogyro]

I have no doubt that there are areas which are dangerously contaminated. The problem begins when a complete continent is closed down to protect against flying in 10% dangerous areas. They need to conduct patrol flights to beef up the simulations with real world data.

I bet the scientists do not have many volcano eruptions with real data to tune their models and boundary conditions. If the government rejects the help offer of the airlines it endangers other life. Medical evacuations and organ transplant flights have been cancelled. On top there are hundred thousands of passengers stranded around the world piling up to millions soon. The economic damage is considerable.

The problem is that most countries in Europe have joined in that extension of the American Dream the European Union and sold all their national wealth and honour to the private greed merchants. They do not have the national resources, the will or the drive to bother that much about issues like this one. There is no longer the responsibility of government to the people and non of those in politics are willing to act or risk their self serving sources of income. Being politicaly correct and in fear of virtual terrorism is the norm, nobody has the guts to work outside that box any longer.
Play it safe and remain a weedy gutless moron, that is why aircraft will remain grounded until hell freezes over.

[Giblet]

http://www.mg.co.za/article/2010-04-18- ... heads-home

[WhiteBlue]

It seems the Airlines are just getting irritated due to the lack of research planes up doing tests.

I can't believe any airline would ignore the recommendations of the International Civil Aviation Organization or the UK Civil Aviation Authority.

Lufthansa have flown a bunch of empty passenger planes to Frankfurt to improve their distribution when normal flight schedules will be re established. They also did some cargo flights. This is traffic to airports that have been closed due to the recommendations for 36 hours. All pilots reported no observations or problems from dust. A Swiss defense flight reported encounters with dust and steamy smells but there was no information were those dust clouds were encountered. So it could have been over Europe or the Atlantic, nobody knows.

[Richard]

Apparently the problem is that ground based detectors can see the ash, but can't work out the concentration levels. Weather radar on the planes can't see the ash.

I also understand that the aircraft test flights have been at relatively low levels (below 20,000ft) whereas UK Met Office planes and Norwegian & Swiss air force planes at higher altitudes have found dangerous levels of ash.

So, we have a scenario where planes can take off not being able to detect dangerous ash, and we know there are dangerous ash clouds around. A bit like pin the tail on the donkey, or blind man's bluff.

I guess one way to open up the routes is to have met office test planes (presumably more resilient or with better detectors?) in the air 24 hours a day tracking clouds and checking that the main routes are clear.

[WhiteBlue]

The problem are flights that have to run under instrument condition. As long as you can see perfectly clear all your way by day time you can see dust clouds and avoid them. So the strategy must be having non passenger VFR planes clearing areas without water clouds and releasing them to traffic as soon as they are free. Sophisticated detection capable planes should be used to track suspected areas that are only scoutable by instument flight plans. This way the aviation has to clear up the flight corridors every day as long as the danger exists but there would be some restricted flight activity where possible.

Travel chaosShare EmailFeedbackPrint
Ecclestone - Spanish Grand Prix goes ahead
ESPNF1 Staff
April 19, 2010

The departure board at London's Heathrow airport tells the story © Press Association
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News: F1 paddock worried about leaving Shanghai
Bernie Ecclestone dismissed claims that next month's Spanish Grand Prix could be cancelled because of the chaos over flight to many parts of Europe, while meantime various teams were left searching for ways to get back home after the Chinese Grand Prix.

It was confirmed today that this weekend's Japanese round of the MotoGP series has been called off due to the travel disruptions caused by the volcanic ash. But fortunately for F1 there is now a three-week break between the Chinese Grand Prix and the opening of the European season in Spain on May 9.

But with the hundreds of tonnes of freight, including the cars, stranded at Shanghai airport - while F1's six 747 jets are grounded in Europe - it is currently impossible to predict when the team factories will be reunited with their equipment.

"The main concern is getting the engines back because they have to be worked on," Ecclestone said. "But I am sure everything will be all right. We know there will be a Spanish Grand Prix, we just don't know where yet," he joked to a reporter in China, adding that his plan-B was "suicide".

"There is no question of cancelling the Spanish Grand Prix," he said. "Of course, it is causing everybody problems, but we will find a way to get everyone home."

The movement of F1's actual people is less problematic, albeit expensive: several teams - including Ferrari and McLaren - are organising private charters on Tuesday or Wednesday into Spain, where some major airports are still landing planes. The personnel will then return to their respective team headquarters by bus. Other F1 people have diverted to Dubai or even as far afield as the US, in the hope of finding another air route back to Europe.

Force India's Karun Chandhok said the "whole paddock" was in a mess. "Some people are flying around the world to USA just to get a connecting flight to anywhere in Europe. Luckily for me, India is unaffected so cancelled my flight to London, so I will go and wait at home. But Bruno [Senna]is not happy to be stuck here."

As for the freight, the end of the air chaos could come sooner than expected after British Airways, Air France and KLM tested planes in European skies without problems, and Niki Lauda's airline conducted a test with an Airbus A320 from Vienna to Salzburg.

"The flight was the best ever, with blue skies," Lauda said. "I don't understand what all the fuss is about."

[autogyro]

I have flown in RAF weather aircraft some years ago, where flying into bad weather was the norm and exciting.
However the aircraft was the piston engined Hastings modified for the job out of Aldergrove in Ireland, four Bristol Herculese engines.
Our wonderful technology today means there are only turbofan engined aircraft available which are far more vulnerable to volcanic dust and so fly at a safe distance increasing the safety margins by a huge amount.

The silly British government has just taken the last MK3 Nimrods out of service as well, so their election money grabbing action has back fired yet again. The Nimrod was technicaly set up for this task and had radar suitable for the work.

Labour government is the cause of your delays people!!!!!!! Morons.

Like I said, those in charge are not going to put their own jobs on the line, 'Till hell frezes over'.

[fausto cedros]

That wouldn't be possible for flights carrying passengers, though.

May I ask why? I also have an unrelated question, if you don't mind: Do passenger flights go often above FL350? I'm always pissed for not being able to see the aircraft's data ever since I entered the cockpit of an A320 back in 1999 (airspeed was 300 knots CAS, IIRC).

Sure they do... last week I came back from Abu Dhabi at FL380

On long cruise usually the aircraft fly the highest possible altitude to save fuel and to intercept if possible the jetstreams originating at the troposphere ruptures. Groundspeed for a liner cruising in absence of significat wind ( IT NEVER HAPPENS BY THE WAY) is around 480kts.
Instrumental flight for carrying paying passengers is mandatory.
Then, just figure out the whole mass of aircraft trying to fly VFR to avoid the ashes at their own convenience, the multiple massive emergencies of those who would be affected in the attempt to cross the ashcloud when necessary, and stuff like that...enough to go crazy.

[andrew]

This is actually very serious. The streets of Aberdeen are littered (more than the usual) with lasagne, chips, frozen peas and pizzas. It was the fallout from Iceland.

[ESPImperium]

Joe Saward has had this to write:

F1 not the most important thing – shock!
April 19, 2010 by joesaward

Formula 1 people have departed from Shanghai in all directions, while those who have been left behind are now busy arguing with the authorities there about extending their visas and trying to explain to Chinese officialdom why it is that Westerners do not like giving their passports to the authorities in foreign parts. I know of people who have gone to the US, hoping to get home that way; others are in Istanbul and there are more exotic routes as well, involving such glamorous locations as Tunisia, Oporto in Portugal and even ferries from Bilbao to Portsmouth on dear old P&O. Charter flights are being organised to ship some of the F1 people stranded in Shanghai into Spain – if they can get clearance to do it. I do not see why not. It is a good moment for a smart entrepreneur to mike some money getting F1 folk to where they want to be. Tony Fernandes, Vijay Mallya, Paul Stoddart and Richard Branson all like to turn a quid and F1 people are willing to pay to get out of China – even if they only get to France or Italy.

It would be fun to hear where everyone is and the adventures that they are having. It would make for a great article for the next GP+ e-magazine… I am sure that F1 ingenuity will be at its finest, as it always is in times of crisis. I seem to have been quite lucky. I got to the airport in Shanghai a few hours after the race, having completed the fastest ever GP+ (a 60-page edition three and a half hours after the race!) Alas, one cannot upload these things in China so it is best to get out to Dubai and this was what was booked. We went ahead even though we were warned that there were 6,000 Emirates passengers stuck there since the volcanic problems began on Friday. Figuring that it would be easier to work and better all round we upgraded ourselves to Business Class when we arrived at Pudong International Airport, using some of the squillions of air miles that we have, and were amazed when they said “No problem”. It was relatively comfortable and work was possible on the plane. With us were the likes of Ross Brawn, Sam Michael, Rubens Barrichello and Renault F1 chief executive Eric Boullier, although the Renault party was stuck in Economy Class, as they had had to work pretty hard to get onboard in the first place!

Still, in times of crisis one does not argue about the ice in the gin and tonics or food vouchers. One gets the job done.

Dubai seemed rather quiet, as most people at the airport had clearly been sent out to hotels. Having said that there seems to be some space still left as I was able to extend my hotel stay by a day without any drama at all. Then at Monday lunchtime I got a message saying that I might be able to get on a flight to Nice on Tuesday morning.

Done! I instantly booked a train to Charles de Gaulle Airport – where my car is waiting for me. So if all goes well I will be sipping champagne on Tuesday night in Paris… Well, one should not count chickens before they are roasted, as the French railway workers have never shown much understanding of macro-strategic issues nor how to gain the support of the population, but hopefully they will not mess it up too much.

I hear that Ross and Sam managed to wangle their way into Nice this morning, where Ross organised to have a driver (no, not Michael Schumacher – he is still in Shanghai) to drive them back to England. By my reckoning they should be somewhere near Marseilles by now. They will no doubt get caught up in the rush hour in Lyon, but will be in Paris by dinner time…

I hear also that 100 F1 folk are getting out of Shanghai en route for Rome, which will no doubt reduce the amount of arm-waving going on at Pudong. This will be a fun flight, as I am reliably informed by strictly confidential sources that Economy Class will be like the F1 grid, with Ferrari drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, Robert Kubica, Jarno Trulli, Pedro de la Rosa, Tonio Liuzzi and Sebastien Buemi. There will also be Ferrari test driver Giancarlo Fisichella and Scuderia Toro Rosso technical director Giorgio Ascanelli, plus Nicolas Todt, manager to various stars and related to the FIA President.

I expect they will all complain about the leg-room and food… but, hey, you have to take the rough with the smooth!

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/

[WhiteBlue]

European traffic ministers have decided to split up the continental airspace in several zones which will be separately released to traffic. It is expected that many flights to German destinations will be allowed to pass on lower flight levels under VFR once the sky is clear. Today in southern Germany the sun was shining again and many airlines had special flight plans.

[hecti]

Of course the main reason for increased volcanic activity in the area, is because of global warming caused by human activity.
The ice sheets have reduced and taken pressure off the Earths crust, changing the capability for magma to reach the surface.

Can I get a source?
This sounds pretty ridiculous imo.

[andrew]

Global warming? Aye good one!

Can't really see that working as Volcanic activity is to do with tetonic plates and magma and wot not rather than ice caps melting and cars run on seal pups.

I too would like to see more info to confirm this theory.

[mx_tifoso]

Ridiculous? Take a geology course and that thought will wither away. Glaciers do exert pressure on the tectonic plates which actually does affect the rising of magma, as it forms in low pressure and high temp areas. In case someone needs this recap: less/smaller glaciers means less tectonic pressure -> more magma reaching the surface.

Although I wouldn't say that human caused global warming is the cause of this event. That's a bit too rich.