Originally Posted by
thwock
when did air traffic change from assiting aircraft with the safe and orderly flow of traffic to telling us when and where we can fly ?
ATC don't own the skies, the governments do. NATS is the largest of the UK's Air Navigation Service Provider, note the words Service Provider. They provide a service within the confines of the licence and limitations of HM Government PLC. In the current situation NATS are the governments spokesmen/talking heads. Neither NATS nor the airlines want to stop flying because they're losing money hand over fist.
What absolutely astonishes me is the arrogance and selfishness being displayed in this thread. HM Government are taking advice from volcanologists and the met office about the ash plume and are acting on that advice. In this thread I read non experts who simply want to fly wherever and whenever they like, to hell with the rest of us. Well I personally don't want the mangled wreckage of your aircraft landing on my head, or my house or my friends etc. etc. and I don't want my taxes spent in scraping you up off the ground. You remind me of the most ignorant comment on sky from some woman who said "It's a disgrace, I want to go on my holidays and they won't let me!" Does she really want a holiday which has the potential to become permanent?
The effects of volcanic ash on aircraft are very well documented and the risks are too high, stay on the ground until it's absolutely safe and you're not likely to cause harm to the rest of us.
BD