Volcanic ash cloud and Private / VFR flying (merged)
 

With most of the UK airspace closed to IFR flight today due the volcanic ash cloud it could be a good day to explore with of course ATC clearance airspace that on normal days you would not have gained clearance into....what a chance to get a clearance to overfly your local major airfield.....would be interesting to hear if many take the opportunity or even if the opportunity will exist!! :cool::cool:

Not for those of us who are stuck at work :(

Could be an interesting day though...

Smithy

Aye but its closed for a reason

Volcanic Ash will make a right mess of your highly expensive plastic window that you need to see out of.

MJ.......Yea I know that but the ash levels seem to be remaining high, I think the Scottish sigmet yesterday eve said between FL050 and FL350...I guess at 90kts the windscreen would not suffer??...Anyway I wonder if Loganair manage to operate all their flights VFR today.....:cool::cool:

Volcanic ash affecting piston engines?
 

Just wondering...

Projected spread

Nah mate the windscreens are made out of plastic. The ash is basically very fine particles of glass. The big aircraft screens are made out of glass and they get eaten by it. 90knts glass particles against plastic will just pit and I would imagine its not outside the range of possibilty to actually eat right the way through. Even if you flying in clear air there will still be particles dropping out below causing damage.

All your paint work will be shot blasted as well.

And the particles would also get sucked up into the engine. The filter might be able to take some of them out but as soon as you use the carb heat you will get them into the cylinders, the liners are very soft, you will basically turn your oil system into a liquid emery scourer (Emery paper which we call sandpaper is made out of volcanic ash)

I was also thinking about starting thread on the subject as well

Basically is particals of emery.

If it did get into your engine I would imagine it would just scoure it to death pretty sharpish.

I would also imagine as well that alot of cars are going to be screwed by this as well.

The current ASHTAM states as follows:

No idea how to access the referenced "VA ADVISORY" though, any clues anyone? Edit: The VA advisory is in fact the Met office notification linked by IO540 above :O

Only if they can reach FL200.

Click on Projected spread above

Nah the stuff has to land sometime once it does thats when the damage occurs. Where it will land who knows

Hopefully on the UK parliament tomorrow as a two fingers to GBs Carbon Emission taxes.

I am sure when the scientists note a dramatic increase in carbon levels GB will use that as another vindication and that global warming is all man made.

That little explosion has put more carbon into the atmosphere than ten years of the man made stuff.

Pace

Aye that volcano will have chucked more gases into the air than anything Brown will have done to help the enviroment.

Going to be interesting how long this thing is going to last.

The amount of ash thats up there already is quite small but the thing doesn't seem to be running out of steam. The ash is also up there before summer so next winter could be a right freezing job. If that high pushes the ash up into the artic high and dumps it on the ice cap that could speed up its melting. So the flights getting grounded for a week might be the least of our worries.

I wouldn't imagine it would be too clever for the engine's health...:uhoh:

Smithy

Are you pretty quiet today then FBW?

Not on duty till 1300 but I guess so :(:(:(

Mad Jock.....OH bugger does that mean I have to take the push bike to work??? :( Anyway whats all the panic about, I thought you were used to flying through dust?? :cool::cool:

I thought piston engines had filters? So apart from when using carb heat, the ash should be trapped by the filters.... But I think I'll hang fire until we know how long and just HOW bad the situation turns out to be...

And what about all the military aircraft? Jets don't have filters! Are we at risk?

I am but its dust which has had a couple of million of years to get all the sharp edges smoothed off it. Also as well we had a new prop put on 4 months ago and it s been stripped of paint and looks like its been on for 5 years flying in Scotland.

And personally if the ash does start to fall I would stick your own car in the garage and rent one.

Touch and go's at Heathrow from 12pm no charge

Eyjafjallajökull. What I want to know is how in the name of Christ do you pronounce that? Ejaff... ejaffa... ejaffajoke... oh bugger it.

A confused, tongue-tied Smithy

Volcano still emmiting ash...upper wind still from the NW...ah well I guess I may hang my headset up for a few more days!!! :cool::cool:

On a more serious note...

I was trawling through my usual (official and unofficial) sources of pre-flight information, including the EAD (Eurocontrol) site, homebriefing.nl, met'map, wetterzentrale.de and the official Dutch Met pages (KNMI - Koninklijk Nederlands Meteorologisch Instituut) and I found no trace whatsoever of the SIGMET reports in which this little event is described. Even a Google search for SIGMET BIRK or SIGMET EHAA gave surprisingly little information (though enough to understand what's going on).

So I'm a bit worried that my normal pre-flight routine would not have picked up this event. Until the NOTAMs start appearing that airports are closed, or until the METARS/TAFs start reporting VA.

So what's the "official" source for sigmet information that you use? Would your routine have picked this up, and if so, how/where?

PPrune!

It's showing on the AIS website under Notam searches (presumably one has to always tick the "ASHTAM" box).

I recall reading recently of some unsettled accounts between countries of the EU/UK, and Iceland.

Hey there, I think Iceland has your airspace closed, I suggest you settle the accounts to their satisfaction as quick as you can!

What is most notable about this is that nobody seems to actually know anything about the impact (if any) on low level GA, e.g. below FL100 or FL200.

The NOTAM put out by NATS is pure ar*se covering material.

If this stuff (which is quite invisible right now, at low levels) is capable of stripping paint off, what is it going to do to one's lungs?

To me, it seems there is NO danger whatsoever at VFR-GA levels.

so can you fly vfr at low level still?

I am meant to be moving my plane tomorrow for some engineering work but I m not sure if I should go to the airport tomorrow?

Buisness for me as usual at Scottish Info this afternoon, every man and his dog out....about the only one in the ops room talking to aircraft!! :cool::cool:

I'm in the same case as you guys. Don't know anything. Nothing about GA on metoffice, nothing on NATS... I was planning a local tonight, I prefer to postpone it... Dont know what those ashes exactly do to our cylinders, don't know if the air filter stop that crap efficiently enough and I don't want to discover it in flight.:8
Barton info says VFR OPR SHOULD EXERCISE EXTREME CAUTIONO AND MUST ASSURE THEMSELVES THAT THEIR INTENDED FLIGHT CAN BE CONDUCTED IN A SAFE MANNER.
Suspect they dont know much more we do!

"In a safe manner" LOL.

If you check out NATS | AIS - Home

You will get the Notams no problem...latest here....

) EGXX/QAFXX/IV/NBO/E/000/999/5441N00219W999
B) FROM: 10/04/15 12:00C) TO: 10/04/15 17:59
E) A VOLCANIC ASH CLOUD, ORIGINATING IN ICELAND, IS HAVING A
MAJOR IMPACT AFFECTING UK AIRSPACE. UK AREA AFFECTED:
610000N 0100000W 610000N 0000000W 600000N 0000000W
570000N 0050000E 550000N 0050000E 503039N 0013824E
493000N 0041900W 493957N 0080000W 510000N 0080000W
522000N 0053000W 535324N 0053000W 553600N 0020800W
574700N 0015500W 604402N 0100000W 610000N 0100000W
SFC/UNL
OPR SHOULD REFER TO VA ADVISORY 20100415/0600 FOR FURTHER INFO.
IN ACCORDANCE WITH ICAO VOLCANIC ASH CONTINGENCY PLAN,
NO IFR CLEARANCE WILL BE ISSUED FOR PENETRATION OF THE FORECAST
CONTAMINATED AREA THAT LIES WITHIN UK AIRSPACE. B0693/10

fisbangwallop: Are there any VFR restrictions in place in the Scottish FIR?

IOM airspace is NOTAM'd as restricted for all traffic now. Frustratingly, it's clear blue skies and sunshine all round.

-j34-

The ash in the upper atmosphere, the chances of it even appearing at puddle jumper altitudes is negligible. Reading some of the posts on here you would think doomsday was coming.

I am off to take the Auster for a bimble.

Plenty VFR stuff flying here in Scotland today. Weather is glorious, blue skies and light winds. Sitting in my back garden just now enjoying the sunshine after my roster today was cancelled.

And there go's a pa28 overhead as i type.

Hoping for a fly-by of Schipol in the Cessna on saturday if this keeps up! :ok:

ashes to ashes
 

The last time the little devil went into action it lasted 200 years! Maybe we can defer the annuals. Bit like Mad Cow disease, the latest flu epidemic etc etc. Major panic, this time over something that is and has been occuring throughout the world since time began. Reason its over UK its running along in a fast jet stream at very high levels, unlikely to stop off to cause those at low levels any problems.However we live in a dont do this or that world and many have never seen the days when we could and did operate with a minimum of big brother dictates. Go fly and enjoy!

Directorate of Airspace Policy at the CAA have told Heathrow not to issue SVFR clearances so don't go blaming Heathrow ATC for being 'inflexible'.

UK Airspace closed to Special VFR. Why?
 

Maybe I'm being thick but I cannot see the reason for closing all (relevant) UK airspace to Special VFR when VFR is unaffected.

Anyone KNOW why?

UV

Because saying no is much easier than saying yes. Unfortunately becoming a British trait.

Been for a lovely flight today. No problems whatsoever:

The dust particles are upper level (greater than FL100) and has affected jet traffic only. Jet engines suck in raw air into their engines and spit it out the back again, the "raw" air reaches moving parts of the engine - piston engines have air filters (unless carb heat on) so not affected (by smaller particles - ok at high level (which they cant operate in anyway) they could be).

No my windscreen has not been damaged, all the paint is on the propellor and leading edges still have paint on them. Checked the air fliter on landing - clean as a whistle.

Usual storn in a tea cup with Sky News making things sound like the apocalypse is upon us...

Even was cleared straight across controlled airspace even though its all supposed to be closed..

It does seem that the election is as predicted so boring that the reporters have got over excited AGAIN and poo'd their pants....

totally agree. when are the controlling authorities actually going to employ and/or consult pilots rather than stuffed shirts on fat public sector final pensions...