European government’s precautionary approach to volcano ash clouds drifting over European airspace, threatens to turn a minor geological event into a full-blown disaster. Already, there is serious talk of the British government organising ‘D-Day’ style rescues of stranded citizens
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/19/iceland-volcano-naval-ships-rescue
At the time of writing, European nations are on the verge of a transportation catastrophe. An erupting volcano in Iceland has closed the skies over most of northern Europe – indefinitely. All this coincided with a national French rail strike.
Yes, there is a tiny risk when flying through volcano ash clouds, but the ban is a panic measure, as flying around or through such clouds is a risk worth taking. We need to open up the skies – the ban is over precautious, and the costs are far, far too great.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8629127.stm
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2010-04-19-1Avolcano19_CV_N.htm
I feel unqualified to discuss
I feel unqualified to discuss the risk factors here and you may be right as far as the short term risk/benefit equation is concerned, I can't help thinking that this crisis has shown that we simply fly too much. Buses trains and ferries do far less harm to our environment and are a lot less disaster prone.
A siver lining: I was in Ireland last week and while we had glorious weather the whole week, the lack of vapour trails resulted in absolutely unblemished blue skies on Thursday and Friday. That's something I haven't seen since I was a child.
To say there is a tiny risk
To say there is a tiny risk from flying through a volanic ash cloud is completely wrong. It can badly damage the cockpit windscreen - sort of sandblast it - and perhaps more importantly can badly damage the leading edge of the wings. Then there is the damage that can be done to the turbine blades. And so the list goes on.
However my understanding is that the dust cloud was at 30000 feet and it should have been possible to have constructed routes which avoided the cloud. It is worth noting that the actual area of the cloud was a computer model and not actually reality hence the results of text flights by KLM and BA etc.
Strikes me what we have seen has been an airborne 'foot & mouth'.
Now it is finally getting
Now it is finally getting better! The ban is repealed and things are going back to normal. It will certainly take couple of days till they really are normal again, but at least there is some progress to be seen. I have been to Berlin for the last couple days and can only agree with bigC - we had wonderful, cloudless blue skies all the time during the weekend. Something to be scarcely seen. Thus, thanks to the volcano! ;)
Post new comment