Sunfish:
I'm sick of this. Comments slagging off about regulators are just unfounded.
errr - what are you actually 'sick' about? Comments about inappropriate regulations? Inaction? Slow response?
I assume your ICAO reference is intended to reassure that ICAO is rushing about doing stuff and the results will be Real Soon. The meat (such as it is) of the press release says:
The multidisciplinary team of experts from States and industry facilitated by ICAO will prepare by 1 August a report on lessons learned from the crisis and identify guidance material and contingency plans which need to be updated. Building on the report, a roadmap for establishing globally-harmonized ash concentration thresholds, options for improved detection systems of volcanic ash, as well as recommendations to improve notification and warning systems, will be completed by May 2011.
Looks like a bit of 'Manana, but without the same sense of urgency' to me. Decide what report to write by 1st August and then spend the next 9 months writing it. But reports of any kind do not actually DO anything. On this timetable, there'd be no prospect of even getting the VA concentrations harmonized by mid-2011.
And 'options' are quite easy to write up. Selecting and implementing the right one (starting May 2011 at earliest) might take a bit longer. Slow? Inactive? Complacent? Pretty-much as useful as a Chocolate Teapot? You choose!
'Never mistake Activity for Effective Action'.
And meanwhile, in Another Part of the Forest, Easyjet is making
PR capital (even if not actually gaining useful competitive advantage) by putting IR cameras on some of its aircraft at the cost, it says, of £1m. (see other posting). Well, at least it's action, even if uncoordinated and possibly not terribly useful.