Airpolice
First registered in December so not exactly old. The dust was obviously the same as on the windscreen. I have time on my hands so I thought I'd take a look.

I guess we're talking about controlled airspace here.

But something I struggle to understand. I would have thought volcanic ash reduces visibility, therefore one might opt to fly airways-IFR to get some some kind of separation from any other aircraft, assuming the pilot knows full well of his responsibilities as PIC, and the limitations and capabilities of his aircraft for the given weather environment that he is going to fly within.

If this airspace is closed to IFR, it means we must fly VFR or fly IFR OCAS, but I'm told Farnborough are not offering anything more than a Basic Service at present.

Therefore is it a:
1) Just fly at your own risk if you can't see what's up ahead and/or
2) ATC does not want to take the risk of vectoring you into ash (even though the weather radars might provide some info on where that ash might be)?

Or is there something else I'm missing here?

Airspace over Gatwick busy / Tiger Club invades
 

Quiz: Spot the aircraft - how many can you see in the air?
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/a...BALBO532UK.jpg
Photo courtesy of Richard Foorde.

I count:

• 3 Stampes
• 3 Tiger Moths
• 3 Turbs
• 1 Casa Jungmann
• 1 Pulsar

More photos & a few line write up

OC619

P.S. I missed it as my group partner had the Cub (form which the photos were taken). :{

That's what's the case here. Under ICAO rules ("recommendations"), ATC may not and will not vector you, or offer you an IFR clearance, into areas that may be affected by VA.

Weather radar detects moisture, not VA. So weather radar (either ground-based or on-board aircraft) is useless in detecting the ash plume. The only way anybody can know where the ash is, is the rather coarse prediction of the VAAC London. That, plus actual observations/measurements by aircraft in-flight.

Since the amount of proper environmental monitoring aircraft is rather low for such a vast area, the various CAAs and Met offices have now started to solicit input in the form of Pireps from pilots who have flown. With the current flight restrictions, that comes down to us GA.

IFR OCAS is pretty much a UK anomaly. I doubt whether anyone knows the exact ruleset that applies in this rather unique case.

Got it! Thanks

WOW! Tremendous!!:ok: :D :O

The joys of formation flying! Great pic! :D:ok:

Why don't they open LHR up to GA while everything is shut down? Charge £20 for a stop and go, proceeds to go to charity, and I bet everyone on here would zip in just to get EGLL in the logbook...I would :) Do the same with Gatwick and you could do a EGLL to EGGatwick (dunno the code :) ) cross country! When will this EVER be likely again?

Dead right - they could make a lot of money doing that

How to get the stranded home in less than a day.
 

CAA/Government gives PPL holders and GA aircraft owners a time limited exemption and allows them to charge for carrying passengers. Job done.:ok::)

Your landing fee alone will be more than those passengers have paid for their low-cost tickets. Let them enjoy their extended holidays!

I got a free landing and lunch at Le Bourget on the weekend of International women's day. Lots of Cessnas, Pa 2x, one Stampe and my Cub. VFR transit of Paris thrown in. :cool:
Didn't even need to stop the commercial stuff for us.

Fisbangwollop, Not sure if it was your good self or your colleagues, but we had the good fortune of chatting to Scottish on several occasions over the past few days as we circumnavigated the UK.

An excellent service last Wednesday as we headed down the east coast from Dundee to Lincolnshire followed by an equally good service on Friday as we went back up the west coat of England and across to Belfast. Then, after 2 days on the ground due to the cold front passing through, another excellent service today as we tried to get from Belfast to Stornoway, but ended up in Oban (what a great place with very friendly people - highly recomend a visit!) for a while due to that damned weather blocking our route again.

Thanks to all at Scottish, a superb, helpful and very friendly service on all occasions.

From the 3 adventures aboard G-DC :ok:

Loads of great photos out there............
are there any good videos of all these "touch and goes"??

Photos: Boeing 757-... Aircraft Pictures | !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

VA
 

Help me out here. I can't find the mention of VA in any TAF or metar

MFC FLY..Yes could have been me as just done 6 duty days from Wednesday....interesting few days as I was about the only sector in the ops room chatting to lots of VFR traffic so fun for me to......now off on leave to build my son's house in Newcastle...:cool::cool::cool:

OT: the root of all evil, how beautiful
 

Just to add a bit of silver lining to the ash cloud, aren't these pictures stunning? [originals, and a lot more, here]

It is just the idiots who run the media like a good total shutdown story.............. one can't let the truth get in the way of a good story!

Exactly!
 

What is the big deal about landing at Bristol???????? Or even landing at Heathrow........Come on guys.....Have on your logbook? O well....You'll feel you are a great pilot after that!

A C-130 just flew over here,probably from Mildenhall.
:)