Flights cancelled due to volcanic ash cloud from Iceland, Eyjafjallajokull

[SN539]

According to "radar virtuel.com", four BEL aircraft are overhead southern France heading north : OOVEP/OODWB/OODJO/OODJK (see also preceding post). Should BRU temporaly reopens to allow ferry flight ?

[luchtzak]

Airspace over north Italy closed after two planes (1 LH, 1 IB) reported abnormal engine parameters!

Can we have a source for this information ?

[sn26567]

A nice initiative:

Swiss International Air Lines Alternative for stranded passengers in Zurich:
Take part at a guided walk through the old Town of Zurich for free if you show them your flight ticket. The walk will take place at 15:00 local time.

[Acid-drop]

The first plane in a belgian airport since thrusday : OO-TAZ BAE146 in LGG
Then in BRU : CE-01 E135 and OO-TNF B733

[tolipanebas]

EU to approve government aid to airlines.

http://in.reuters.com/article/rbssIndus ... 5120100419

[sn26567]

OOVEX and OOVET now also seem to be heading North somewhere between Bordeaux and the Spanish border. Meanwhile the four other aircraft (see message above) are nearing the Belgian border. All have BEL99** flight numbers.

Update: OODJK and OODJO now in Belgian airspace, descending towards BRU.
OOSSP also returning home, currently over the Atlantic Ocean away from Bordeaux.

[Charlie Roy]

Some new developments, source: http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0419/travelupdates.html

NATO: A buildup of glass has been found in the jet engine of a NATO fighter plane in Europe, a senior US official said. 'Allied F-16s were flying and they did find glass buildup inside the engines,' the official told reporters in Brussels, clarifying that the ash had affected one aircraft. Ash from volcanos can be turned into a glass form at high temperatures when it passes through a jet engine.

Eruption: Iceland's volcanic eruption has 'diminished markedly' and now is spewing far less ash, an Icelandic seismologist has said.

[SN539]

BEL9936 (OO DJO) just landed safely on runway 02 ! Welcome home !

OOVEX and OOVET now also seem to be heading North somewhere between Bordeaux and the Spanish border. Meanwhile the four other aircraft (see message above) are nearing the Belgian border. All have BEL99** flight numbers.

Update: OODJK and OODJO now in Belgian airspace, descending towards BRU.
OOSSP also returning home, currently over the Atlantic Ocean away from Bordeaux.

[BelgianBoy]

A Brussels airlines B-737 landing on runway 02 passed overhead: OO-VEP.

Regards

Willy

[sn26567]

Latest update from CityJet

Tuesday 20th April:All CityJet flights into and out of London City are cancelled.

The following flights are also cancelled due to the closure of airspace in Holland and Belgium:
ANTWERP - MANCHESTER
ROTTERDAM - HAMBURG
AMSTERDAM - BASLE/MLH

We regret the disruption which this situation is causing, but safety is our top priority. Please check www.cityjet.com for more information.

[grnkg]

VFR means Visual Flight Rules.

Short cut, see wikipedia and Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC)

According to spokesman of Mr. Schouppe,
VSR flights are temporary allowed in Belgian airspace for ferrying aircraft to homebase.

Says it all about their aviation expertise!

Kind regards,
GR.

[Skystef]

The first plane in a belgian airport since thrusday : OO-TAZ BAE146 in LGG
Then in BRU : CE-01 E135 and OO-TNF B733

Small correction, TNT for BRU was OO-TNG. Distinction between these two is quite clear: OO-TNG in the usual orange markings visually confirmed came in, OO-TNF is since March 26 in a non parcel c/s (white).

Activity in our airpace and beyond of this month can be retrieved via this listing

[sn26567]

OODJL currently over Germany on the way home!

[sn26567]

I just received a message from a former colleague: "Disappointed but not surprised that my flight to Edinburgh with British Midland was cancelled at the weekend. But I was surprised to receive this morning a "satisfaction survey" asking whether I had had a good flight."

[sn26567]

KLM test flight Amsterdam-Paris landed safely at 11.40hrs. Technical inspection points out: no problems detected.

KLM also operated 2 Boeing 747 flight to Sharjah (Freighter), Bangkok/Taipei (Cargo, no passengers) on 18APR10. They landed safely and no visual problems detected.

[tolipanebas]

Yep, it looks like all planes are being allowed to fly to their home base right now, which is a good thing and the first signs of a common sense approach to the situation slowly returning.

Anyway, it still remains unclear IF and WHEN EU ministers are finally going to let go of that ridiculous mathematical model as sole basis for their decisions, but rather start delimiting the ash cloud more precisely by close observation, just as the FAA suggests doing in such cases, either though satellite images or scientifically sound atmospheric tests flights (preferably both), because obviously the area now closed off based on this mathematical model is way too big as all the positioning and test flights have shown us.

Ash clouds are not able to distinct between ferry flights or revenue flights, so either the sky above us is sufficiently clear of ash and then we are good to fly for as long as that lasts, or we aren't and then these ferry flights shouldn't be operating either; there's no way in between really.

[grnkg]

Ash clouds are not able to distinct between ferry flights or revenue flights, so either the sky is sufficiently clear of ash and then we are good to fly for as long as that lasts, or we aren't and then these ferry flights shouldn't be operating either; there's no way in between really.

Fully agree.
After all, the main concern for not flying through an ashcloud is the resulting damage to equipment, such as leading edges and windscreens being abraded, build-up of material and/or erosion of engine compressor/turbine blades, etc... already well documented here on the forum.

The point is, the gouvernment now saying it's OK for ferry flights (LH 747 going up to FL245) is saying that the life of the pilots onboard is of less value than the life of passengers!

Again, we surely need a politician's brain to understand!

Kind regards,
GR.

[TUB023]

you have one point where you have to make decissions.
if you leave planes in foreign country's, unemployment would reach enormous heights. It's already bad, but if you don't have planes, then you don't need mechanics, etc... to be on the job aswell.

If you ferry them back, with no passengers it is a risk, you could lose a pilot, but then again if it's filled with passangers, you would lose alot more.

as rude as it may sound, better to lose 2, then 100

[tolipanebas]

you have one point where you have to make decissions.
if you leave planes in foreign country's, unemployment would reach enormous heights. It's already bad, but if you don't have planes, then you don't need mechanics, etc... to be on the job aswell.

If you ferry them back, with no passengers it is a risk, you could lose a pilot, but then again if it's filled with passangers, you would lose alot more.

as rude as it may sound, better to lose 2, then 100

If those engines flame out over a Paris, then its not 2 vs 100, but rather 3002 vs 3100, so that argument doesn't hold any grounds really.

The thing is, authorities are timidly starting to admit they don't know the concentration levels of ash within the huge area they have now closed off, yet this is actually the all important thing to know.

If the concentration is high, then go ahead, close the airspace off. However, if the concentration is really low to non-existing even, then there's no use in closing of the airspace really, just because a computer model has calculated it to contain some ash too in theory.

It's how aviation has always dealt with volcanic ash in the past: stay clear of the cloud by several tens of miles, especially on the downwind side, but keep operating for the rest. It's really incredible to see how for the first time ever, they has come up with the brilliant idea to use a mathematical model as lead source, meaning we now have airspace closed off as far down as BULGARIA, whereas nobody managed to detect any significant levels of ash south of Scotland or Denmark!

The consequences of this volcanic eruption are HUGE, not because it is the largest eruption ever, not even close to anything of that source, but because it is the first time we're using computer-based modeling as main source, whereas previously people have always relied on plain common sense, combined with past experiences and close atmospheric observation of the fumes.

Our IT capabilities may have evolved greatly, yet it seems it has made some people throw away their own brains as well as conveniently omitting the need for atmospheric monitoring and tracking!

[grnkg]

you have one point where you have to make decissions.
if you leave planes in foreign country's, unemployment would reach enormous heights. It's already bad, but if you don't have planes, then you don't need mechanics, etc... to be on the job aswell.

If you ferry them back, with no passengers it is a risk, you could lose a pilot, but then again if it's filled with passangers, you would lose alot more.

as rude as it may sound, better to lose 2, then 100

If I hear you talking, I wonder why we even bother to do maintenance on our (freight) aircraft. After all, if the aircraft crashes, we only loose the 2 pilots onboard.

FYI, in the real world, our aircraft are subject to the exact same maintenance programme of a passenger aircraft, with additional restrictions.

Kind regards,
GR.