The Iceland Volcano Thread

I'm starting to think that maybe the airlines are right to try to start flying again, really how dense is the cloud of ash, I know planes have had trouble before with volcanic ash but that is when they fly straight into it relativity close to the volcano not 500/1000 mile away like most of europe is, but then again i could be wrong

Does anyone know if the ash cloud has actually reached Ireland yet? Looking at the sky, there is nothing to suggest that it has but maybe I am wrong?

peasant wrote: »

I found some on my car earlier, so yes, it's here alright

Right. I just thought it would be more visually appealing than this! :pac:

Graces7 wrote: »

Sounds like a dangerously unknown quantity..

What price holidays, really, against any risk? There is always next year...

That's a very blinkered view. This is not just about tourism. What about DHL, Fed Ex, UPC? They import and export billions of euro worth of products each year for our economy. Every day lost is a huge burden on them and the country in general. A high percentage of their imports are critical to our economy, such as industrial and medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, factory supplies, electronics etc.

Bottom line, we can't do without air travel for long.

Deep Easterly wrote: »

Does anyone know if the ash cloud has actually reached Ireland yet? Looking at the sky, there is nothing to suggest that it has but maybe I am wrong?

I was just wondering the same thing myself. I know you don't want to take chances with safety, but I would imagine that if the cloud is not visible from pretty much anywhere, then there is probably not much of a risk there. I know they say it's invisible, but at least at sunset we should have been seeing much more than we have been seeing. I say most of what we've seen has been normal haze from the inversion anyway. I posted pics a month ago from my flight to Sligo in which there was more visible contamination than there is now - and we're supposed to be in the middle of a serious ash cloud? Yes they found a bit at 5000 and 7000ft yesterday, but only localised, and in reality no airliner stays at that level for long. We have more evidence (OK not from an independent source) that things are not as bad as feared.

Previous planes to have problems with ash have were flying fairly close to the source - Moody's flight in '82 was affected by severe St Elmo's fire before the engines shut down, which illustrates that. And planes take off in sand and dust storms, part of which contains silica, all the time in desert areas without problem.

I welcome the utmost caution taken by the authorities this weekend, they were right to do sit it out and see what happened. But in reality what has happened? Nothing. No coverings of volcanic ash as predicted (yes there were some reports in England but not what you'd call much). Tomorrow will be a big day, I reckon we could be seeing the end in sight.

emfifty wrote: »

It is times like these that show the kind of banana republic we live in.
Apart from 'keeping the situation under review' the government are doing sweet f*** all. The Brits are ahead of the possie mobilising ships if necessary! Ok we may not have the same numbers stranded abroad but a decent response from gov is a minimum. Where the f**k is cowen. haven't seen him anywhere in the news. we are a f***ing embarrassment!:mad:

Eh? What's Cowen going to do? Mobilise the air force? The navy? Our amazing trawler fleet? The government can't do anything to help this situation. Wait and see is the best approach at the moment. The Irish aren't stupid enough that they have to ask for help to get a train back from Madrid.

I know people keep citing the Finnish airforce planes, but relevant to your questions, the pilots there had no indication in the air of the dust, they didn't see it, there wasn't even that affect on the windshield that was reported in other cases. At the time Finnish airspace wasn't even closed, the cloud was deemed far enough away at that point. Yet when they landed they found quite serious damage to the engines.)

The fighters use different engines to airliners. In a fighter all the air is burned in the engine, guaranteeing that volcanic dust will destroy it very quickly. In a civilian airliner only 25% of the air is burned and the rest isn't touched. Makes a big difference in terms of ruggedness.