Take a look at this document:
"Issues arising from the 4th International Workshop on Volcanic Ash" This document was the result of a meeting held by the
ICAO INTERNATIONAL AIRWAYS VOLCANO WATCH OPERATIONS GROUP held in Paris, september 2008.
Especially paragragraphs 2.5 and 2.6 are interesting. Allow me to quote the document:
"Secondly, the past paragraph of the workshop summary suggested that ‘clear limits of ash content are required from both the manufacturers and aviation licensing authorities’. This refers to an indisputably difficult and longstanding problem; that there is no defined lower limit on ash concentration. As remote sensing techniques improve, it is likely that the aggregate areas where ash is sensed or inferred will increase, possibly leading to over-warning for ash and cost-blowouts for airlines"
Next please read the remark at the bottom of the
LONDON VAAC Charts. It says:
"RMK: ASH CONCENTRATIONS WITHIN INDICATED AREAS ARE UNKNOWN"
Combine these two and anybody with a little common sense should realise that the COMPLETE closure of the "affected" airspace is completely insane! Military aircraft should be up there NOW 24 hrs/day looking for those parts of the airspace where ask can be observed. Combine these observations with satellite imagery from
visible ash clouds and concentrations and warn operators to stay clear of these areas and these areas only. Then perhaps impose a tighter maintenance schedule imposing boroscopic engine inspections every month or so.
And before anybody comes back with the NASA DC8 case: this flight happened on a dark moonless night!
I live here about 50 NM west of Brussels. The weather here is great: absolutely cloudless, blue sky with almost unlimited visibility. Give me an A320 and I'll be glad to make a test flight in this airspace at any altitude between MSL and FL390. Yes, I'll even take my kids along on the flight, but I will stay clear of ALL visible ash clouds.
I'm pretty convinced that time will tell that all this is an extreme overreaction.
This is not just a better-safe-then-sorry-matter, but an extreme and very costly example of a cover-your-arse-policy by the decision makers!
Best regards,
Sabenaboy
PS: @ one post only, replying to his
post 757: I will apologise if later it turns out that completely closing the airspace was a good decision. Will you be so brave to apologise to all those you insult by your remark, when time will tell that this was indeed an insane overreaction?