Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
Florian

European northern Airspace closed

Recommended Posts

Due to the eruption of a volcano on iceland, many countries in northern Europe closed their airspace. Flights from the airport i work (HHN) to Dublin, Kerry, London and Gothenburg were cancelled!

BBC about the closed airspaces.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Norway is closed, Danmark is closed, parts of Sweden are closed, UK is closed. And only because a vulcano is heating a little bit :grin:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Funny, how Mother Earth still manages to kick the ass of so much technology with one puff.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Does this only affect civilian flights? I wonder how this would affect a war scenario... taking into account the new aggressiveness displayed by the large member of the "late unpleasantness"...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Schiphol will close in 45 minutes. On BNR radio we heard our former direct neighbour Asger Haraldson, now a university professor in Reykjavik, telling us (in Dutch) how things were in Iceland. At least Keflavik and Reykjavic are open, the ash is blowing to the south and moving over our country at an altitude of about 18.000 feet.

They are sending the UK and us ash instead of cash in the wake of the Icesave bankruptcy .......grin.gif

 

Hou doe,

 

Derk

Edited by Derk

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

My parents were supposed to fly from Liverpool to Spain this morning. They got up at 03.30 to be there at 05.30 and arrived to be told the flight was cancelled. There were huge queues to re-book so they went home. I think they're going to re-book over the net, but no-one is sure when the flights are going to be re-started in any case.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Does this only affect civilian flights? I wonder how this would affect a war scenario... taking into account the new aggressiveness displayed by the large member of the "late unpleasantness"...

 

volcanic ash wipes out military engines just as quickly as civilian ones!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The test flights seem to be doing fine so far...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

it was an effect that was not known or even suspected until a few years ago. It came to light when a commercial airliner lost 3 of 4 engines when flying through an ash cloud (I don't recall which eruption or precisely when this was). I heard it was an "interesting" time in the cockpit.....

 

that prompted engine inspections on the part of airlines which had flown aircraft through the ash cloud. The results were surprising and I'm told really shocked a lot of people. The volcanic ash destroys the turbine blades.

 

Since then, everyone avoids volcanic ash clouds.

 

My son-in-law (KC-135) at Mildenhall is having a stand-down while the cloud is over.

 

what test flights?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The test flights seem to be doing fine so far...

 

 

what test flights?

 

Maybe some kind of filter?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

UK Airspace is open if you want to fly from the Isle of Man to Blackpool... :dntknw: as it's only a little pond jumper they use between those 2 airports... doesn't fly far enough to get high enough...

 

And here's a link to the BA Flight that lost all four motors...

 

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

 

I love the classic English understatement by the pilot... talk about cool under presure.

 

And the link to the KLM Flight that also lost all four motors...

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KLM_Flight_867

 

Well here's hoping that sense prevails on this one... and there goes the greenhouse effect... that Volcano's punching out more CO2 than all the worlds cars put together... or so they say.... :heat:

Edited by Slartibartfast

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Maybe some kind of filter?

 

Unless you know of a filter that covers the entire front of an engine for flying purposes....

 

FC

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Unless you know of a filter that covers the entire front of an engine for flying purposes....

 

FC

 

 

and still lets in sufficient airflow for the engine to function - AND - doesn't clog up and shut off all the airflow!!!!

 

I rather doubt that would work.

 

Interesting pictures of the F-18 engines, super61. I have no doubt those are legit and shows why this isn't just an over-reaction. The trick is to be able to track the ash cloud and route aircraft around, over, or under.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Lufthansa did those flights under 6000 feet, where no ash is present, for having large airliners in place to be prepared when the airspace closure ends. Low altidude airspace isn´t affected at all. We have lots of small propeller aircraft and helicopters flying. Yesterday some airspace from Germany towards east was opened for a couple of hours. An Aeroflot cargo MD11 managed to leave the airport HHN, where i work. A second one had to stay, cause the crew didn´t made it in time.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

This might give light aircraft operators/manufacturers a boost. Would be cool to see Rent-a-Helo services.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Would ash effect good old fashioned liquid-cooled piston engines (Merlin/DB601/Allison/...) equipped with filters? Would be ironic to be thrown back into the propeller age... but according to the scientists, the eruption of ash has stopped, which makes fears come to life that the neighbouring larger volcano Katla may awaken - and if that happens, ash could be spewn out for months in much larger proportions than so far...

 

Sometimes, I can't help but to be amazed at how good old Mother Nature forces a slower pace of life on us. The alternatives to air transportation would result in trips that by plane take only hours, to be traversed in days or even weeks...

 

Edit: Hmmm, instead of Helos, GrViper, how about Blimps? Sound more practical I think, besides more economical, given the amounts of people and cargo to be transported...

Edited by TX3RN0BILL

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah, blimp airlines wolud be awesome :cool:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

BA have tested a 747 at 40000ft for 2 hours and they are doing a strip down of the engines...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The BBC were reporting today on news 24 that several NATO F-16s had damaged engines due to the ash in the air - but they havnt backed that up or given any other details of where and altitude etc- so not sure how true that is.

 

Scotland and Northern Ireland airspace might be open Tuesday - assuming the wind doesnt change - what a nightmare!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
The BBC were reporting today on news 24 that several NATO F-16s had damaged engines due to the ash in the air - but they havnt backed that up or given any other details of where and altitude etc- so not sure how true that is.

Must've been a few chaps smoking pipes waiting for fair weather while the mechanics were running the engines on idle.

 

 

Very soon: "The Hindenburg" II, the remake.

*squeaky voice* Helium! We're leaking helium!

Although helium inhalation can be lethal too :blink:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

×

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue..