Russia closes airspace, 3 Finnair a/c diverted to Novosibirsk

[Finn47]

Yesterday, three Finnair aircraft on their way from China to Helsinki had to divert to Novosibirsk because the Russian airspace was closed due to the launch of the Soyuz rocket with a space tourist aboard. It seems there was a misunderstanding about the timing of said airspace closure somewhere down the line between the Russian authorities, the Finnish CAA and Finnair. The aircraft eventually arrived some three hours late, and 150 transit passengers had to spend the night in a hotel in Helsinki, having missed their connecting flights. Cost to Finnair: at least tens of thousands of euro.

So far, article in Finnish only:
Amerikkalainen avaruusturisti viivytti Finnairin lentoja - HS.fi - Ulkomaat (http://www.hs.fi/ulkomaat/artikkeli/Amerikkalainen+avaruusturisti+viivytti+Finnairin+lentoja/1135240186853)

[DonLeslie]

...It seems there was a misunderstanding about the timing of said airspace closure somewhere down the line between the Russian authorities, the Finnish CAA and Finnair.

Yeah right, misunderstanding...
AirFrance, BA and us were told by Beijing clearance delivery to expect one hour delay due to "technical reasons ATC enroute", whatever that was supposed to mean. :confused:
Our station called ATC and were told about some Airforce movement.
Miraculously, though, we received start up about 15mins later and off we went.
I'd say incompetence (NOT by Finnair) rather covers it. :ugh:

[Finn47]

Article now available in English:

Helsingin Sanomat - International Edition - Home (http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Flight+by+millionaire+space+tourist+hampers+Finnair+passenge rs+on+China+routes+/1135240205144)

[LH2]

I'd say incompetence (NOT by Finnair)

You would say incompetence? From the only nation currently able to send humans into space on operational missions? They must be doing something right, even if avoiding inconvenience to foreign aircraft is not terribly high in their priority list.

Have you thought of sending your CV to RKA? I'm sure they would like to hear from you if you can manage a manned rocket launch better than them.

[Groundloop]

From the only nation currently able to send humans into space on operational missions?

So no Shuttle missions recently or planned for the near future?

[DonLeslie]

In my book not issuing any NOTAMS (or wrong times) about an event planned months in advance, thus causing three international flights to divert and delaying several others, constitutes incompetence of an advanced level.

...even if avoiding inconvenience to foreign aircraft is not terribly high in their priority list.That's exactly the mindset I'm criticizing. "We do what we want and f*** the rest"
Very professional! :cool:

[Taildragger67]

From the only nation currently able to send humans into space on operational missions?

Don't you mean "From one of the only three nation currently able to send humans into space on operational missions"?

And watch this space for a couple more in the not-too-distant future (well, next couple/few years).

The article seems to imply that the primary reason for the Soyuz mission was to take the 'tourist'; is it not the case that such 'tourists' fit into operational missions (ie. the launch would've occurred irrespective of the 'tourist' being on board)?

[Carnage Matey!]

Are you sure they didn't issue a NOTAM? I recall an incident when a company aircraft was crusing at a snails pace to ensure it didn't reach the FIR boundary before the airspace reopened only to be overtaken by an Alitalia 777 going much faster on the same routing. The NOTAMs had definitely been issued but for some reason the message hadn't got to the Alitalia crew.

[farnworth]

You would say incompetence? From the only nation currently able to send humans into space on operational missions? They must be doing something right, even if avoiding inconvenience to foreign aircraft is not terribly high in their priority list.

A foolish statement, and wrong of course. The excellent Soyuz programme is in no way related to Russia's ability to manage her colossal airspace.

And the issue may not have been Baikonur anyway. The chekists were playing with their nukes again this weekend: there was a SLBM launch on Saturday (11500 km they say!) and three land based ICBMs on Sunday.

[wiggy]

I think you may be right - in the past the Russian certainly did not close large sections of airspace because of launches from Baikonur...one night, a few years back, we ( and a whole gaggle of other aircraft) were entertained to the spectacle night launch from Baikonur.....we got no warning or reroute from ATC, just the somewhat disturbing sight of what we thought was a oil field "flare" moving slowly vertically upwards and then eventually North Eastwards into the night sky ( followed it visually well past staging). Looking at the charts we reckoned we were about 100 - 150 km South East of the launch site at the time.

[bubbers44]

The only reason the shuttle isn't launching tomorrow is that the Hubble telescope had a major malfunction last week causing half of their control and communications system to shut down. Since this will be the last shuttle mission to Hubble they have to wait for the module to be built and tested with a planned launch of 2009. November's launch to the space station is still on schedule. We watched the last shuttle launch. It has been quite some time since the shuttle program was discontinued for a while.

[WHBM]

I've seen the shuttle launch from Cape Canaveral, and was quite surprised at the short interval before it went when there were commercial jets visible at various altitudes, and how short after it went they were back again. They too must have got a great view.