Finnish F-18's..........................

Finnish fighter jets damaged by volcanic cloud

Interesting pictures of the fused silica on the blades on the web

one ray of sunshine
 

you nicked the aman gag from the comment board:\:\

Was it just me, or did anybody else misread this signature as a suggestion? :rolleyes:

<<A lot of people reading this are stuck overseas trying to get some information on what, if anything, is happening or likely to happen regarding the thread title of UK airspace closure and this drivel about runway inspections is detracting to say the least. There are far more important things happening, in case you hadn't noticed.>>

I started this thread and I'm sorry O-T-B objects to the odd tangential discussion, which resulted from UK Airspace Closure! It is NOT drivel.

Sorry, O-T-B, I just cannot visualise the father of a family stuck in some out of the way airport saying to his wife: "Mildred, why not use the Internet Cafe to log on to the PPruNe ATC Forum and check for news on airspace closures".

Sorry, O-T-B, you need some Valiums and a few hours On The Beach my boy!! ;)

OTB,
You could serve your drive through penalty at Ice Station Beach.
It has just started to snow,honestly.Volcanic Winter already.:eek:
Snowclosed,no volcano closed,of lets just go home.


HD,
I helped gets friends home by logging onto Nats and PPrune to check the latest updates.Instead of waiting for Squeezyjet,we looked at the situation and activated plan Z.They are home now instead of waiting for them to make up their minds.:ok:

BD: "Simple answer is a little thing called gravity, what goes up must come down. There was a 'sampling' aircraft which flew and reported 3 distinct layers lower than had been 'forecast' plus some areas in UK are reporting ash on the ground."

Cheers

My car was dirty from early last week. I woke up to it... might have been Tuesday 13th?

p.s Listening to the R4 news before on the way home reporting there are talks about solutions to this and one of them is to fly lower.

Captain's Log, stardate 100419, day five and still nothing is moving in this strange corner of the godforsaken planet except for the probing spotter craft they call Oh Arr Cess Nahs and Cherry Okies. These strange little craft buzz around at low levels obviously trying to gather evidence of the work that we are not doing.
I remarked to my No2 Gertlush MyBabber, that we must remain invisible to the native scouting flights. He has de-camped to Level Two to brew some of the local concoction thay call Arr Tee. The native dialect still confuses me, it's like nothing I've heard before, impenetrable to outsiders.
At least I have several hours of rest before I must return to carry out my important research checking the Ilids for Wholes. I shall continue that under cover of darkness.
More later, Noise signing off.

May be a small window of opportunity on Wednesday....however, when a couple of dozen tried to make it across the pond a few days ago, none made it ......either turning back or changing destination as the corridor disappeared.
In some quarters this is being treated like a big joke [Saturday].....as I looked at my tube with empty airways I could see hundreds of VFR aircraft at various levels throughout the UK.....the regular para-drop sites were all active and I saw many climbs up to 13/14000feet. Exec jets and turboprops [not a lot] were evident outside regulated airspace......Sunday was a little tighter regulation-wise....e.g. restrictions applied to SVFR and para-drop controlled airspace penetration.
Despite reports of ash layers at lower levels there were quite a few aircraft actually flying for sustained periods at mid unpressurised levels.
Government finally taking notice......Aviation Minister has been invisible throughout.....CAA remarkably silent....leaving it to NATS [merely an ATS provider] to do the leg work.
I feel gutted for the airlines....genuinely.....never known anything like it in my controlling lifetime.
IF!!!!! the window occurs at night.....put pressure on to lift the night curfew....the last thing you guys/gals need is to fly round in a stack which could be ash contaminated, and over densely populated areas.

It has really got serious, Alex Bristol wearing a tie!

On the other hand, flying at night deprives the pilots from seeing (and avoiding) any unexpected volcanic ash layers. I think Captain Eric Moody might agree! ;)

Perhaps the "bloom" around the engines may be more visible at night, and perhaps lights may illuminate reflective particles otherwise invisible during the day........actually I don't know......does anyone?
If you're flying in South and West UK tomorrow night....let me know. I'll be on 134.075/133.6/129.375/135.255/132.95/126.075/128.815......or if any one of those isn't working...127.7 as well.

055166k,
Very Best Wishes to 'Coach' then. :ok:

Sky News called them "National Air Transport Service" earlier!

Exactly! You've got to question why the government are hiding behind NATS, or indeed why NATS talking heads are willing to front for the government? Is this going to be a good thing for NATS or a bad thing in the eyes of public perception? One would hope it's a good thing, NATS standing up for safety but who knows!
Anyone hear Mrs Harriett Harman, member of the UK COBRA committee, announce that NATS is the regulator for aviation safety in the UK and that we must all wait upon their advice? :rolleyes:

BD

The whole episode is quite worrying from a NATS viewpoint IMHO. Especiallly if you witness the ignorance of professionals on the R&N forum as to what NATS is actually responsible for.

It is a shame that the contractor (NATS) had to take the stand and make the unpopular announcements when the regulator or the Government should have stepped up to the plate.

'All' NATS does is provide a service under contract - a contract that details the rules which NATS must abide by.

Harman's lack of basic understanding is a worry considering just 2 months ago she declared that the UK Air Transport infrastructure needed shaking up, inferring at the time that her department would be doing 'the shaking'.

Its funny that they keep presuming like this given the fact NATS doesnt actually stand for anything anymore..........

But to the layman NATS is meaningless so there are going to be understandable attempts to make some sense out of it. Full marks to whoever thought of using the original abbreviation in this way. Shades of BA ethnic tail colours, Consignia and other rubbish invented by media man and sold to gullible management! :yuk:

Just looking at radarvirtuel.com and seeing some aircraft directly overflying the southern half of the UK. Are we open for business, or are they just nipping through while it's quiet?

Is the airspace closed or not, I am more than a little confused. I just watched 2 Lufthansa 747's crossing supposedly closed airspace coming in from the Atlantic and passing from Belfast-Manchester across to the Wash and on over the North Sea. How can Lufthansa use UK Airspace but British aircraft cannot?.

Another Lufthansa aircraft is approaching the Isle of Man at this time going the same routing.

You just posted this in the Rumours & News forum.

The answer is the same. Airspace is restricted BELOW FL200.

Thank you.

Presumably, they can come up with a new set of recommendations on exposure, inspection and maintenance?
Is there a significant increase in transatlantic traffic using the New York/Santa Maria OCAs?

I think that is one of the best statements on this thread so far. Perhaps the BBC would benefit from knowing this instead of posting vague bulletins like 'Parts of England Airspace to reopen at 0900 tomorrow'. :yuk:

With apologies to OTB, coz this isn't quite UK airspace I'm talking about, but I just saw the first traffic (apart from the odd twitcher) in a week go overhead. (S E France)

Since normally I can see 2-12 at high level from 0600-0100 at any one time, it was quite a surprise.



....and two minutes after I posted that, the Monday Beat-Up happened. Its usually Monday, two Mirages, low level, over or very near my house. Today is Tuesday, and it was just one.Ye Cannae Whack It :-)))))

It seems that all UK restrictions are lifted from 2200 this evening. Night shifts might be a tad interesting. What's the staffing level like?

A I

Where did you read that AI? NATS web site is stating that a review will be promulgated at 2200.

NATS website:

NATS website hasn't been updated yet.

http://www.caa.co.uk/application.asp...etail&nid=1862

'We will issue a further statement by 2200'

So, Terrible bloody timekeeping.

So, Nothing new there then. Moving forward eh?

presumably z...ah well thats may DIL stuffed in the morning.:)

All I am saying is, very Interesting tonight. From those BAW that have just landed. :ok: (going over my house)

This is not over yet - not even close.

I really hope that CAA, NATS and the DoT have not caved into pressure from Willie Walsh ( An arrogant, nasty piece of work) and the rest of the Airlines! Let's hope that we were really over reacting after all and Eric Moody was totally mistaken as to why all his engines stopped!!!!

Minesthe(V8)Chevy

Mine's now a Dodge Journey - ughh. Had to give back the Charger, doesn't hold 6!!

Wish I was back home under the old Amber 25 just South of BADUR looking up at the night sky, watching the old life fly by with a few shooting stars, occasional satellite and a glass of plonk in hand. Unfortunately, stuck in Canada, with a misty/ashy sky waiting til....who knows when.

Only get Super Etendards beating-up the local French airfield, back home. Can you send some of your Mirages up to NW France to liven things up a bit?

OTB
 

Wot! Just the one glass?
Hear that sort of behaviour can be quite addictive.

Let me know when u have the fire lit - if you ever get back! ;)

BBC News - Ash ban to remain for most of UK

Clearly, the BBC doesn't believe that NATS is an acronym.

Bearing in mind that flight beneath FL200 was condidered hazardous, what would have been the safe procedure for handling an emergency descent? I'm thinking in terms of, say, a pressurisation loss.

I asked the question on R&N but it was either too stupid or too difficult.

...until the first incident.

The more flights get airborne, the more likely! ;)

<<Clearly, the BBC doesn't believe that NATS is an acronym.>>

It certainly was, but my understanding is that it is no longer and "Nats" means nothing. Totally and utterly stupid IMHO.

The next time an ash cloud descends on us we must get all the CEOs of the major European airlines, and IATA, to jump into their newest and most expensive aircraft and head towards the source. This will aid research and when the whining of the engines, and their whinging stops, then we'll know it's not safe to fly there!

alert 5:
If you knock on someones door hard enough and for long enough, I'm pretty sure they would let you in. Or call the police. I guess NATS had forgotten the local police number.

I think that my next trip will be by boat or train!

Second, more powerful Icelandic volcano likely to explode soon - Europe, World - The Independent ;)

Bekol

Looking forward to getting back. Try and save some plonk for you. Fire will be lit on day one of return just need some help with keeping it stoked. How's SIKOU going?