Ash clouds threaten air traffic
 

http://gfx.dagbladet.no/labrador/112...ctive/503x.jpg

A mail flight taking off from Bodø Wednesday evening reported ash clouds. The Bodø airport was therefore the first airport to be closed down; the rest of North-Norway followed shortly thereafter.
The rest of the country could be affected tomorrow.

The ash comes from the volcanic activity on Iceland and is now reaching Norwegian airspace. Which can have serious consequences for air traffic.

- We are now evaluating meteorological reports from London relating to the development of these ash clouds. Ash and airplanes are a bad combination. We will decide at about 20.00 hrs what we´ll do regarding Norwegian air traffic. In the worst case scenario, we will close off the entire airspace, says Raymond Ingebretsen, boss of the ATC facility at Bodø.

Vulcanic video link

http://gfx.dagbladet.no/labrador/112...ctive/960x.jpg

Forecast for tomorrow 12.00 hrs. The red line is where the ash will be from ground level to 20 000 ft. The green line shows the aerea where air traffic might have problems between 20 000 and 35 000 ft. The blue line is a smaller area between 35 000 and 50 000ft

According to current wind and wind predcitions, Norway airspace may close totally tomorrow as well as part of the Russian airpspace.
Lot's of unhappy flyers tomorrow then.

Here's a link to one of the webcams pointed at the eruption.
Eyjafjallajökull frá Valahnúk

http://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publi...705.html#7-5-9

check NoTams and the VAFTAD:zzz:

Satellite Services Division Washington VAAC - VAFTAD

More on the vulcano in Iceland
 

From "Iceland Review Online":

14/04/2010 | 13:18
Flights Limited Due to New Iceland Eruption
Instrument flights at or below 30,000 feet have been banned in the area north and east of the eruption area. Because of this, all domestic flights to Egilsstadir and Hornafjördur have been cancelled.
According to Hjördís Gudmundsdóttir, information officer for the Civil Aviation Administration, it is probable that the banned area will soon expand to the northeast and extend all the way to Norway and possibly Russia. This has not happened yet, though.

This is a little confusing to me. The London VAAD (which monitors the Iceland sector) is reporting some information about the plume, including the graphic in the first post.
However, the satellite they use to generate such data is not showing any volcanic ash plume, and neither is any other source of information. It's not even cloudy over quite large portions of the airspace between Iceland and Norway, let alone ash laden.

(edit) Although most of Northern Iceland appears to be covered.

The UK ATICCC (Air Traffic Co-ordination and Communication Cell) has been activated at 21.25 UTC:

"Due to estensive ash cloud from Icelandic Volcanic eruption it is predicted that UK airspace will be affected from 15th April. NOTAMS are being issued."

Rumours that airfields north of BHX could be affected from 0600z tomorrow.
Could be an interesting day!

A good time to be on leave with no travel plans then I guess :p

louby

Juud Thanks for the PiRep ;)


The sarcasm in my post was a kinda ground school reminder for the airfolks ;)

not to you:)

Anyone got any links to any EuroControl information on the airspace above EGBB being closed from 0600z onwards?

A planned closure of local airspce is expected to have a consideration impact upon passengers flying in and out of Aberdeen Airport on Thursday 15 April. The closure has been enforced by the air traffic control services, NATS, as a result of volcanic ash which is drifting toward the country from Iceland.

Thats what BAA Aberdeen say

Met. Office reporting plume up to 11km (36,000ft) high with lightning in the plume over Iceland. So I guess it's still erupting and spewing ash. Looks like the airspace around Aberdeen will be closed by NATS shortly according to their web site.

On the beach

This seems to have the latest forecasts. Looks like its going to cover the country by 1800z

Met Office: Volcanic Ash Advisory Centres

I'm not that familiar with what the aftermath of significant volcanic eruptions, but I'm puzzled as to the rather large area indicated by the London VAAC. I;m aware that volcanoes can throw up vast quantities of solid material, but in particular, what kind of density of ash does the line delineate ?

Is this a
1) "Anyone on the ground in this area should close their windows and not go out" advisory
2) "Do not fly within this area because your engines may fail" advisory
3) "There might be a tiny bit of ash floating around, but nothing to have any particular impact on aviation" advisory ?

1. This is airborne threat not a fallout ground threat

2. Yes it is a do not fly or else

3. Of course it's a warning for a threat which could have a significant impact on your safe operation. Whether you take it as advisory or not depends on how it is transmitted to you.

easyJet have cancelled all departures from the North of England and Scotland until further notice!

Really? Some departures still showing ex MAN on aims.

Edinburgh expecting major disruptions on 15th April due to volcanic ash cloud, according to BBC travel news.

Edinburgh closed

FlyBE cancelling services ex MAN, back to bed for me then

Just had my AGP cancelled with all LBA departures cancelled - going to be an interesting day...

Back to bed for another few hours...

This could be the final nail in the coffin lid for some operators if this does shut down all airspace in the UK and beyond.:uhoh:
My limited knowledge of the weather, it seems that we will be dragging in air from that area for a few more days yet, could be a very quite weekend.:{

Quiet day for some today.....perhaps not the airline call centers..... :)

https://www.cfmu.eurocontrol.int/PUB...15_0610utc.gif

There is a meeting at 0600Z to update the conditions for Oslo AOR, but it looks like they will zero rate it at about 0800Z.

Q) 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
515700n 0022100w
515800n 0031019w
513932n 0031018w
511535n 0020000w
500016n 0012236w
500000n 0020000w
492841n 0045500w
493134n 0060307w
493842n 0080000w
510000n 0080000w
522000n 0053000w
533837n 0053000w
553100n 0025600w
575900n 0033800w
601609n 0100000w
Operators Should Refer To Va Advisory 1004150000 For Further
Information.
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. B0687/10

easyJet have cancelled the 1st wave departures from northern airfields, including LPL & MAN.

Flight Departures Checker For the latest flight information

BA have cancelled all domestic services for the 15th

British Airways News - Latest BA News

Capt. Eric Moody's flight 28 years ago is illustrative.

British Airways Flight 9 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Flight cancellations now spreading to Newquay and Exeter in the south west of England; local media reporting applies to routes north of the listed airfields.

ALL UK Airspace now CLOSED... :uhoh:

The cloud still appears to be very, very, thin and dispersed. Still, better safe than sorry.
It's currently just reached the North of Scotland, an hour ago the situation looked like this, the dark color being ash:
http://oiswww.eumetsat.org/IPPS/html.../HxoQZlgSBaEbp

Lets hope the overnight inbounds to the UK and Europe were pre-warned.

Since 31 Mar and the grounding of the Nimrod fleet, the UK has had no effective long range SAR cover. := Not a good time to have major diversions and the associated low fuel concerns.

Not withstanding airport closures - Does anyone know if this will affect low level VFR traffic

Cannot be absolutely certain but the ash cloud is presently afflicting the higher levels, so would expect your vfr flight to be unaffected.

From the Notam I posted earlier only applies to IFR flights at the moment....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. B0687/10:cool::cool::cool:

Please please please don't drag Eric Moody out again !

<<ALL UK Airspace now CLOSED... >>

That does not appear to be the case at 06:34. Heathrow inbounds are very busy and a Finnair flight has just taken off.. Looks a bit quiet north of London though!

beamer
 

Too late - he's just been on Sky and to be fair did a decent job of fielding some fairly innane questions from our Charlotte:ok:......then again it is a topic he should know something about.

News channels are reporting that all UK airspace is closed, yet according to Gatwick website, flights are still departing from there. Can anybody clarify please?

According to Heathrow the only cancelled stuff is that heading North, South bound flights are still operating at the moment.

BAA Heathrow: Flight departures today at Heathrow Airport | Live Heathrow Airport departures

Correction
 

oops... should have said... Scottish Airspace is closed, all airports in Scotland are closed to Traffic, but looking at the VAAC predictions, more to come unfortunately....