Icelandic volcanic ash alert grounds flights

[danno]

Link to Video

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8621407.stm


All flights in and out of the UK have been suspended as ash from a volcanic eruption in Iceland moves south.

Safety body Eurocontrol said up to 4,000 flights across northern Europe would be cancelled on Thursday.

The air traffic control service (Nats) said no flights would be allowed in or out of UK airspace until 1800BST amid fears of engine damage.

The airspace restriction was the most significant in living memory, a spokesman said.

Nats suggested that the restrictions were unlikely to be lifted after 1800, saying it was "very unlikely that the situation over England will improve in the foreseeable future".

Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark were among the European countries hit.

Passengers were advised to contact their carriers prior to travel.

Experts have warned that the tiny particles of rock, glass and sand contained in the ash cloud would be sufficient to jam aircraft engines.

But the Health Protection Agency said the ash did not pose a significant risk to public health because of its high altitude.

These are some of the main knock-on effects:

•
airports shut •Disruptions to and from Liverpool's John Lennon, Manchester and Newcastle airports
•Severe delays at Birmingham airport with problems reported at East Midlands, Leeds Bradford, Cardiff International and Bristol airports
•London's Gatwick, Heathrow and City airports hit
•British Airways cancels all domestic flights on Thursday and offers refunds or an option to rebook
•Flights suspended at
•RAF Sea King helicopter
from Scotland to London •Ash threat forces Great North Air Ambulance to be grounded
One passenger at Glasgow told the BBC: "I'm meant to be going to Lanzarote. We've travelled from Oban, leaving at 3am. Now we've decided we might as well just go home and do a bit of gardening."

Others switched from plane to train, with the East Coast line extending its 1830BST London to Newcastle service through to Edinburgh.

Budget airline Ryanair said no flights were operating to or from the UK on Thursday and it expected cancellations and delays on Friday.

VOLCANIC ASH CLOUD

•The eruption in the Eyjafjallajoekull area is the second to occur in a month
•This eruption has released ash to significantly greater heights
•Volcanic ash contains tiny particles of rock and even glass, which can wreak havoc with machinery
•A 1982 BA flight unknowingly flew into an ash cloud, shutting down all four engines
•While ash can be dangerous to health, the current cloud is too high to pose a threat
•The ash is likely to lead to particularly red sunsets in some areas

A spokesman for Nats, which was formerly known as the National Air Traffic Services, said: "The Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre has issued a forecast that the ash cloud from the volcanic eruption in Iceland will track over Europe tonight.

"Nats is working with Eurocontrol and our colleagues in Europe's other air navigation service providers to take the appropriate action to ensure safety in accordance with international aviation policy."

The European air safety body, Eurocontrol, said the cloud of ash had reached 55,000ft and was expected to move through northern UK and Scotland.

Brian Flynn, assistant head of operations of its central flow management unit, told the BBC: "As it moves toward the Netherlands and Belgium it will dissipate and lose intensity, like any weather phenomenon. But we don't know what the extent of it will be."

Met Office forecaster Philip Avery said the ash could take several days to clear.

He said: "It is showing up on imagery at the moment, extending down as far as the Faroes but it looks as though the wind will drag it a good deal further south.

"Nats has good cause to be very cautious about this because in about 1982 a British Airways jumbo had the unnerving experience of having all four engines shut down as it flew through a plume of volcanic ash."

There was a nearly identical incident on 15 December 1989 when KLM Flight 867, a B747-400 from Amsterdam to Anchorage, Alaska, flew into the plume of the erupting Mount Redoubt, causing all four engines to fail.

Once the flight cleared the ash cloud, the crew was able to restart each engine and then make a safe landing at Anchorage, but the aircraft was substantially damaged.

A BAA spokesman said: "Passengers intending to fly today are asked to contact their airline for further information."

The eruption under a glacier in the Eyjafjallajoekull area of Iceland is the second in the country in less than a month.

[Dapperdan]

Is it getting close to 2012?

[Sportmotor]

Is it getting close to 2012?

We got 2 more years

[Dog Walker]

Maybe one of the weather guys on this forum like ReedNavy could tell us how long it will be before the ash makes its way around the world and begins to color OUR sunsets.

Can you imagine being on a 747 and have all four engines shut down?  Bet you that more than the engines were damaged.  Bet they had to hose out the entire passenger compartment.

[danno]

One of my former co-workers was working as cabin crew on this flight.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8622099.stm

[BridgeTroll]

I wonder how much CO2 is being released?

[danno]

The ban continues.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8623534.stm

Europe faces prolonged air chaos
Flights across much of Europe will be severely disrupted well into Saturday because of drifting ash ejected from a volcano in Iceland, officials said.

Much of the airspace across northern and western Europe has been closed, and air control officials said some 17,000 flights would be cancelled on Friday.

Hundreds of thousands of passengers in Europe and around the world have been affected.

Scientists say the volcano is still erupting but producing less ash.


COUNTRIES AFFECTED
Airspace closed:
•Denmark
•Belgium
•Netherlands
•Finland
•Lithuania
•Latvia
•Estonia Partial closures:
•UK
•Republic of Ireland (most airspace opened Friday)
•Sweden (northern airspace opened Friday)
•Norway (limited flights in north)
•France (northern airspace)
•Germany (most airports closed)
•Poland (most airports closed)
•Austria (closures from Friday pm)
•Czech Republic (full closure expected later Friday)

Europe's intergovernmental air control agency, Eurocontrol, said it "expects around 11,000 flights to take place today in European airspace. On a normal day, we would expect 28,000."

Of about 300 transatlantic flights that would usually arrive in Europe in the morning, no more than 120 made it over, the agency said.

"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," it said in a statement.

More countries moved to close their airspace on Friday morning, joining eight which banned flights on Thursday.

Britain's air traffic control body extended its unprecedented restrictions on UK airspace until at least 0100 BST (0000 GMT) on Saturday.

Exceptions allowed for Northern Ireland and western Scotland saw the first flight leave UK airspace since the ban was imposed, an Air Transat plane bound for Toronto from Glasgow.

"In general, the situation is dynamic and subject to change," said a statement issued by the National Air Traffic Service on Friday morning.

The UK, Irish Republic, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Belgium and the Netherlands closed their airspace on Thursday.

France shut down 24 airports in the north of the country, including the main hub of Paris-Charles de Gaulle, while Germany had closed most of its airports by Friday morning.

At Frankfurt's airport, camp beds were laid out for tired travellers waiting for flights to resume.

The Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia also closed their airspace.


Poland closed most of its airports on Friday, including Krakow in the south, where foreign leaders had planned to arrive for the state funeral of President Lech Kaczynski, who was killed in a plane crash last Saturday.

The Kaczynski family said they wanted the funeral to go ahead as planned on Sunday.

Several European monarchs were unable to attend 70th birthday celebrations for Denmark's Queen Margrethe, which began with a concert on Thursday.

Austrian officials said they would have to start closing their country's airspace from late afternoon.

Czech authorities began to impose restrictions on Friday as well, adding that a complete closure was likely to follow.

But as the volcanic ash began drifting south, Sweden began reopening its northern airspace. Officials said restrictions further south would be lifted gradually on Friday. Norway allowed some flights in the north as well.

The Irish Republic also opened its airspace apart from a block off the south coast, putting Dublin, Shannon and Cork airports back into operation.


“ We can actually smell sulphur in the air here now from the volcano cloud ”
Tim Farish, Oslo

Qantas, Japan Airlines, Korean Air, Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific are among airlines which have cancelled long-haul flights to Europe.

Qantas spokesman David Epstein said it might take until Sunday for flights to resume.

Eurostar said its train services between London and Paris and Brussels were sold out on Friday, and urged people not to come to St Pancras station in London to look for tickets.

Ash subsiding

The volcano began erupting on Wednesday for the second time in a month, hurling a plume of ash 11km (seven miles) into the atmosphere. A 500m-wide fissure appeared at the top of the crater.

The heat melted the surrounding ice, and witnesses said two flows of meltwater started coming off the glacier on Wednesday.

Hundreds of people were evacuated from their homes as water carried pieces of ice reportedly the size of small houses down the mountain. A road along the flooded Markarfljot river was also cut in several places.

Matthew Roberts, from the Icelandic Met Office, told the BBC the eruption was weakening and it was no longer producing as much ash.


British health officials said the effects of the ash on people with existing respiratory conditions were "likely to be short term".

Particles that fell overnight Thursday on the Shetland Isles were being examined by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

The last volcanic eruption beneath the glacier was on 20 March. The eruption before that started in 1821 - and continued for two years.

Iceland lies on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the highly volatile boundary between the Eurasian and North American continental plates.

[reednavy]

Maybe one of the weather guys on this forum like ReedNavy could tell us how long it will be before the ash makes its way around the world and begins to color OUR sunsets.

The high latitude of this volcanic event will make it harder for the ash plume to mix into the overall global winds. The current VEI is 3, St. Helens was a 5 and Pinatubo, which cooled the earth slightly, was a 6.

If you're not in Europe or far western Asia right now, you're not going to see anything, unless activity continues to increase, but even then it doesn't seem very likely.

On more colorful sunsets, we mainly get that from Saharan dust plumes that travel across the Atlantic, but with the overall calm trade winds, this may not happen.

[Dog Walker]

Thanks for the info, Reed.  To bad, I remember the sunsets after Pinatubo and they were beautiful.

[danno]

Link to a great set of photos.

http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/photos/2010/04/volcanic-ash-blankets-europe.html

[Jason]

Amazing shots!

[danno]

News is Airsapce will be opened over the Northern parts of the UK tomorrow morning with the rest of the island being opened later in the day.

[JaxByDefault]

< ^fingers crossed. Now begins the travel backlog misery.>


I'd just like to thank all of the people here in Jacksonville who work for British Airways' primary US call center. This couldn't have been an easy week at work.

I've spent a lot -- and I do mean a lot -- of time dealing with BA over the past week rebooking business flights and rerouting people "stuck" in Spain. All of the people I've spoken with here in JAX have been lovely. When the UK lines were jammed, they even put up with the annoyances of international conference calls so that we could easily rebook multiple PNRs at once. 

[danno]

Thank you..  I manage fares and ticketing for the Americas.  They way things are lookng, who knows when it is going to clear up.   It has been a hairy few days.

[Bostech]

Now imagine how actual global warming/climate change would look like....