Airports Across UK To Close?

[Philip Argy]

Who's to say the volcano is going to stop any time soon? It could keep erupting on and off for weeks, months or even years. Methinks someone had better come up with plan B real soon!

Is it feasible to increase FLs to go over the volcanic ash cloud or does it go above FL400? Or does even a short ascent and descent through the cloud result in flameout or engine and windscreen damage??

[Bob C]

Hi Philip

I think the ash has risen to at least 20,000 metres and a report I heard on the radio yesterday mentioned that the last time the volcano erupted (in the 19th century) it spewed ash intermittently for two years.

And a report in "The West Australian" today had an interview with a couple who were aboard the BA flight which flew through volcanic ash near Indonesia in 1982 on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Perth. All four engines stopped and the pilot had to put the B747 into a steep dive to restart the engines.

Thankfully they did and the aircraft landed safely in Jakarta.

Apparently the aircraft was only in the volcanic cloud for a short time so by the sounds of things you just don't go anywhere near them.

[Robert S]

Originally Posted by Bob C

Thankfully they did and the aircraft landed safely in Jakarta.

Land safely it did - this is despite the windscreen being opaque thanks to effectively being sandblasted and similarly the landing lights were badly impacted. They could not even taxi off the runway by themselves, had to get a tow.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Flight_9

The captain of that flight is still around to talk to the media today, which of course he has been doing.

http://news.google.com/news/search?q=Eric+Moody

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8623210.stm
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/0....story/?hpt=C2

"I don't know how thick this ash is, but I wouldn't go anywhere near it," Moody said of the ash from a volcano in Iceland causing flight cancellations across Europe.

[Robert S]

UK Met Office Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre
http://metoffice.com/aviation/vaac/index.html

Issued Graphics:
http://metoffice.com/aviation/vaac/vaacuk_vag.html

See also - Icelandic Met Office
http://en.vedur.is/

Eruption Flyby:
http://en.vedur.is/about-imo/news/2010/nr/1877

[damien b]

Speaking to a friend in Southern Portugal, they are receiving some extra flights into Faro and Lisbon (mainly charter) as they are well south of the ash cloud. People are then able catch trains into Spain and France. Spain, Portugal and Southern France may well be viable ports into Europe if this continues for some time - just means flying over Africa and not through Europe.

I did see a report on sky news that suggested areas like Russia, Japan and even northern USA and Canada may be affected by the cloud as it moves around the globe in coming days/weeks.

If it does behave like it did in 1820, maybe ocean liners will make a return at least on the atlantic runs?

This is from the Eurocontrol web site.

As of 18:12 CET on 16 April 2010, EUROCONTROL has the following update to make with regard to the situation of air traffic in Europe:

16 Apr 2010
EUROCONTROL expects around between 10,000 and 11,000 flights to take place today in European airspace. On a normal day, we would expect 28,000. Yesterday, 15 April, there were 20,334 flights.


Airspace is currently not available for operation of civilian aircraft in the following countries/areas: most part of the UK (excluding Scotland), Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, southern parts of Sweden and Norway, Finland, Estonia, the north of France including all Paris airports, most parts of Germany, parts of Poland including Warsaw airport and the Czech Republic. Geneva and Vienna will also be closing later on today.

Approximately 600 trans-Atlantic flights take place each day, 300 in each direction. Of the 300 flights that would usually arrive in Europe, today between 100 and 120 arrived in Europe.

Forecasts suggest that the cloud of volcanic ash is continuing to move east and south-east and that the impact will continue for at least the next 24 hours

[Robert S]

Originally Posted by damien b

Spain, Portugal and Southern France may well be viable ports into Europe if this continues for some time

The current Met Office predictions appear to suggest all of France will be out. Looks more to be like just Spain, Portugal and perhaps Rome at the moment. Of course the infrastructure (airports, ground transport) will limit how much you can get out of this.

I wonder how badly BA is going to be hit by all of this - will also be interesting to see where this leaves the cabin crew dispute.

[Michael Cleary]

And it now looks like SQ378 may be operating direct to Barcelona - the Flight Status has now eliminated Milan and has it arriving in Barcelona an hour ahead of the Scheduled time.

Assuming there is a crew to operate SQ377, it will be interesting to see whether they delay it until Milan is open again, or do the return direct as well. Direct would probably be good for the passengers too - no doubt lots of empty seats with no Milan stop.

Edit at 15:30 - have to love the live flight tracking as http://www.flightradar24.com/ shows SQ378 at FL370 just west of Corsica now.

[NeilP]

Originally Posted by Nigel C

Go to Mojave Desert if you want lots of aircraft standing still...

Thanks for the tip Nigel, but I reckon Heathrow (and Gatwick) would be more appealing at present!!

[Lee G]

Have a thought if one of the Indonesian volcanoes was to let go in the near future ... how would that affect Australian Airspace? Would we see the same mass shutdown as Europe?

[Anthony T]

Hi there

Ryanair have cancelled 1,162 flights for saturday 17/04, they are allowing rebooking at no extra charge.

Is it Mick's birthday or Irish new year, because Ryanair would normally say tough ****, not our problem.

Anthony T