All flights in the UK grounded until further notice
 

Check the news sites but basically a cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland has caused all flights to/from and within the UK to be suspended until further notice. As the volcano erupted some weeks ago this could go on for some time, they just said on the BBC.

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That's really not what I needed to hear right now, as my elderly mother in the NE of England has just been rushed to hospital, but thanks for alerting me to it.

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I'm really sorry to hear that, I'm in the NE of England and can only assure you there are no effects on the ground at this stage. Hope everything turns out OK.

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I just heard this on R1 news. I was wondering why there seemed to be very few flights on my flight radar, now I know. :rofl:

Could go on for quite a few days. Will cause havoc. Flying into volcanic ash will shut down engines, like the BA flight in 1982, so no getting around it.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8621407.stm

Darn, its a week too early, I scheduled it for NEXT week!

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It said on the news that it won't affect us on the ground, it's higher up in the atmosphere so it's planes that will be affected.

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That's my fear, if I need to get there.

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...and for anyone thinking this is a bit over the top or OH&S gone mad:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Flight_9

Sorry to hear about your mum Seasider. :( :fingerscrossed:

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I agree, all jokes aside, I can see the sense in grounding planes after a large eruption like that. I remember the BA one well, not worth risking another incident.
Seasider, I wouldn't be too concerned as even if you do have to come over the ash cloud should have cleared by the time you get here. because of the backlog of passengers though if you have to travel, ring the airlines direct and make sure they know its a compassionate flight.

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No, its a month late!!!! I put in a request for MARCH! not APRIL, who is the darn fool in charge of volcanoes these days?

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I can't help feeling this is over-reaction and CYA.

Indonesia has volcanoes chucking up ash all the time, and aircraft are warned and fly around them: the high density of ash in the actual plume is dangerous but hundreds of miles away I don't see it being a real problem.

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So glad you are not in charge :lol:

Have a look here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8623534.stm

Please click "next" to see the next five pictures; they show how the cloud moves and how much of Europe it has now covered.

Even France had to shut down its northern airspace because the cloud now covers northern France as well.

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These are more dramatic and appear to show the ash settling in over UK and most of western Europe right up until at least Sunday...not sure though, my Norwegian's a little rusty! It could be that by then the ash is dispersed anough to allow flying.

http://met.no/?module=Articles;actio...icShow;ID=2873

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Get him out the rain then!

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Volcanos have a nasty habit of rumbling on for weeks at a time. It will be interesting to see what happens if that turns out to be the case and flights are grounded each time there is an eruption. How many airlines would/could go under with that sort of disruption?

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Has anyone else noticed the crazy weather, volcanoes erupting, earthquakes, tsunamis the world has been having of late?

It seems like a weekly occurance now, didn't seem to happen as frequently, even a couple of years back.

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I think these types of events are now more commonly reported with far more depth than they ever where.

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And your understanding of the effects of glass and stone on turbines comes from where? The same place as your understanding of aerodynamics and meteorology?:thumbdown:

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I think you might be on to something but incidents like this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Flight_9
have made the authorities ultra-cautious.

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We are, of course, not in possession of all the facts. Engine turbine temperatures are above the melting point of most volcanic particles but surely the density of these in the air must come into the argument too? Thousands of tonnes of meteoric dust of similar composition enter the atmosphere each year and that miniscule amount causes no problems. Aircraft regularly avoid Indonesian, Alaskan and other areas' volcanoes by far fewer miles than the UK is from Iceland and, even when you can smell the sulphur, no harm is done.

I just have to wonder what is so different here to what goes on in many other parts month in month out.

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Something like that <g>.

A little knowledge is.........

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Knowing your background I was interested to read your viewpoint on it, I have heard opposing ones from people currently closer to the action too. One of those situations where they are beng over-cautious maybe, although I am in favour of treating a cloud like this with respect!
(And being purely selfish, the more Qantas gets disrupted the better :thumbup:)

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hi all, just an quick update, all flights into the uk have now been cancelled til at least sunday.:fingerscrossed:

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Im in perth airport at the mo, flying to Singapore then onto China .... there are alot of worried travellers here who should be on this flight heading onto the UK, no-one seems to know whether to fly to singapore or not!?!

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Im meant to be flying out with Singapore airlines tomorrow from Heathrow and have a gut feeling i will not be on the plane!! :(

My husband has already been out in Queensland for past 2 weeks and i was meant to be joining him to start our new life together!!
Everything is now on hold and very ( understatement!!) frustrating. Cant even plan when im going to get out there!! :confused:

Anyone else in the same position??!!!

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i am ment to be flying home to Aus on Monday witha toddler. I am not looking forward to a packed plane in the next few days. Waiting till monday to call travel agent to get flight defered until the end of the week and mayhem disapears from heathrow.

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The ash just isn't ash - it contains bits of other stuff as well, glass and sand which isn't too good for aircraft engines!

I remember having to research the article on the BA flight when I worked on an aviation magazine for one of the stewardesses on board. The conversation I had with her was quite a long time ago but I remember being pretty amazed how the whole crew handled the situation.

It's not uncommon for airspace to be closed when ash is in the air - you just don't get to here about it. We were on a flight to Antigua when the Monseratt volcano was active and fortunately we got to land but the following flights all had to be diverted as it sent another lot of ash up in the air. We sat on the beach and watched it puff away all week!

The disruption and cost to people, airlines, business is going to be horrendous. We all live in fear of planes being grounded by terrorists - not volcanos!

I know this affects all of Europe but you can't help feeling sorry for another thing happening to good old Blighty who's only just recovered after the snow! Apparently so much was wiped off BA's shares the other day because of it, so I'm guessing for all of us waiting for the pound to recover this isn't going to help.

I just feel very sorry for the people who are on holiday and have no rellies to stay with etc, it's going to cost them a fortune in extra hotel bills etc. Lets hope everyone does what they can to ease the pain.

I've just been doing an event where two Brits are stranded in Mellie for an extra few days as they weren't even allowed to fly as far as the airlines hub (ie Dubai, Singapore etc) but at least as they were on business they can use the local office but families stranded must be awful!

Lets hope it clears quickly but they did say the volcano could rumble on for months - I'm due to fly in a month so I hope it's dormant between mid-May and the end of June!

Hope all BE'ers are okay.

KK

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I do admit to a large feeling of guilt about tbis. I am probably stuck in the UK for a week longer than expected. I have close friends in the airline industry who ar worried about the knock-on effects of this, and I have BE friends who are stranded where they don't want to be.
Yet part of me is being really selfish and saying I can get an extra few days out of this, I have some wonderful friends who are helping me plan how/where to stay, and it certainly is working well for me so far. I am genuinely sorry for those who are stuck with nowhere to stay, but I have come to realise I can't affect events like this, all I can do is live with them, and next time, when I'm not so lucky, I hope someone will remind me of this occasoin when things worked in my favour for once.

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Very true Polly!

I just hope employers are understanding about all this and no one looses their jobs!

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I blame the internet... now we get live videos as it happens!! In the 80's it woud be some grainy black and white pic of something that happened weeks ago.

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I'm supposed to by flying back next Saturday. Hopefully it will be all over by then. Am expecting the plane to be packed though.

If it's still going on, I'll just keep enjoying this lovely spring weather till it's all sorted.

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Gorgeous here at present isn't it? Stranded in London in the April sunshne, what a hardship!!

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Very ironic that I can't get back to a job in disaster managemet due to a disaster! :lol:

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Hi everybody, we're supposed to be moving to Melbourne on Friday, moving out of our rental on Thursday, and all our white goods and tv have been sold and are being collected on Wednesday night. Our car is also sold and being collected on Thursday morning, now we don't know when we'lll be able to fly, so nowhere to stay no car etc aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh starting to panice me thinks.

Al and Jacque

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Eric Moody flew through the plume at night (couldn't see it and it was not forecast). That's entirely different from a "dust cloud" a thousand miles away from the volcano - aircraft are flying through those on a daily basis without any effect.

The problem now is that, having declared that *any* dust is dangerous, someone somewhere will have to make the decision that it is not.

Having said that:

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles...-volcanic.html

it doesn't say where in the dust the aircraft flew though.

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Dutch and German airlines are beginning to test out flights and check planes for damage. Preliminary reports are positive :thumbup:

Link

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Was due to fly out Monday to Singapore then to Brisbane now going a week later we hope.

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For anyone with visa issues.
http://www.immi.gov.au/immigration/n...isruptions.htm

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Hi All

We are out here on our reccie (in the Gold Coast). Been out here 5 weeks and were due to fly home today but after finally getting through to Qantas today have been given a new flight date of 4th May!!!! Hmmm would like to get home to feed the cats (luckily have fab friends/neighbours) but can think of worse places to be stranded!:D

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Ive rebooked for 22nd April, not getting my hopes up too high, but got everything crossed!!! :fingerscrossed::unsure: