European northern Airspace closed

[+Florian 394]

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.

[+Gepard 11,356]

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

[Gr.Viper 131]

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

[TX3RN0BILL 3]

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"...

[Derk 265]

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 .......

 

Hou doe,

 

Derk

Edited April 15, 2010 by Derk

[+allenjb42 4,240]

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.

[JediMaster 451]

Did Bjork have Mexican food last night?

[TX3RN0BILL 3]

Did Bjork have Mexican food last night?

 

[+Typhoid 231]

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!

[Gr.Viper 131]

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

[+Typhoid 231]

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?

[macelena 1,070]

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

 

 

what test flights?

 

Maybe some kind of filter?

[Slartibartfast 153]

UK Airspace is open if you want to fly from the Isle of Man to Blackpool... 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....

Edited April 18, 2010 by Slartibartfast

[FastCargo 412]

Maybe some kind of filter?

 

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

 

FC

[super61 0]

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

 

 

Can't confirm how legit this is, but the writeup indicates an F-18 engine check, however, a hawk jet trainer follows the pics underneath

 

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/04/16/340727/pictures-finnish-f-18-engine-check-reveals-effects-of-volcanic.html

[+Typhoid 231]

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.

[Gr.Viper 131]

what test flights?

KLM and Lifthansa are probing the air running their experienced crews across Europe. Without any passengers, of course.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100418/ap_on_re_eu/eu_iceland_volcano

[+Florian 394]

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.

[Gr.Viper 131]

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

[TX3RN0BILL 3]

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 April 19, 2010 by TX3RN0BILL

[Gr.Viper 131]

Yeah, blimp airlines wolud be awesome

[Capitaine Vengeur 263]

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

[Slartibartfast 153]

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

[MigBuster 2,884]

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!

[Gr.Viper 131]

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