UK, Northern Europe No Fly Zone

[Oberon]

UK Airspace shuts from 12pm BST today until who knows when?

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

Looks like the earlier eruption near Eyjafjallajoekull has set the whole bloody thing off.

One really has to feel sorry for Iceland, first their economy blows up, then their geography.

[UnderseaLcpl]

Way to go, Iceland. Now the rest of the planet is going to have to take up the slack for your flagrant violations of the Kyoto protocol goals. You leave us with no choice but to deploy Al Gore to curtail your utter disregard for global climate change.

[Jimbuna]

Better to be safe than sorry....tis reckoned the particles could jam an aircrafts engine

An RAF Sea King helicopter did ferry a critically ill patient from Scotland to London earlier.

Tis hoped flight will return to normal by 18:00 GMT....provided the cloud has dispersed.

[Oberon]

In the hands of the gods Jim, the volcano is still erupting apparently, so if the winds stay the same (which they're supposed to until the weekend) then this will probably go on through tomorrow.

[Lionclaw]

In the -80's a British Airways Boeing 747 flew through a volcanic ash cloud causing all 4 engines to fail. They managed to restart the engines at lower altitude.

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

[Oberon]

They were interviewing Eric Moody on Sky News earlier this morning.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them under control. I trust you are not in too much distress."

[GoldenRivet]

Volcanic ash is some serious ****

Most of Finnish air space shut down from air traffic. The thing got here quicker then anticipated.

In the hands of the gods Jim, the volcano is still erupting apparently, so if the winds stay the same (which they're supposed to until the weekend) then this will probably go on through tomorrow.

Just had some spokesman from Iceland on the news over here, last time this volcano went off like this eruption it lasted a month.

[SteamWake]

Originally Posted by UnderseaLcpl

Way to go, Iceland. Now the rest of the planet is going to have to take up the slack for your flagrant violations of the Kyoto protocol goals. You leave us with no choice but to deploy Al Gore to curtail your utter disregard for global climate change.

LOL beat me to it...

Volcanic ash is basically powdered glass bad news for combustion engines of any type.

Wow it sure seems as if siesmic activity is really picking up accross the globe from Haitai, to China, Iceland and so on.

Read an article a few months ago about increased activity in the Grand Canyon region of the US.

[Buddahaid]

Iceland is the only part of the mid-Atlantic ridge that's not underwater. These things are inevetitable like earthquakes in California, so obviously it's the politics that are responsible.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Oberon

In the hands of the gods Jim, the volcano is still erupting apparently, so if the winds stay the same (which they're supposed to until the weekend) then this will probably go on through tomorrow.

So much for the early/initial estimation

[Weiss Pinguin]

Originally Posted by SteamWake

Read an article a few months ago about increased activity in the Grand Canyon region of the US.

Well then I guess it's a good thing I don't live in Arizona

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

So much for the early/initial estimation

Indeed, was rather optimistic in my opinion, I guess they were hoping the winds would shift or that this eruption would be a brief one.

Steamwake, I've been thinking the exact same thing, in fact IIRC I posted a thread on it a few weeks back, but the conclusion that we, and it seems the USGS came to, is that it's because of better reporting and the sad fact that most of these bigger quakes are happening in populated areas so far this year, that has made it seem like there's more big quakes going on than usual:

http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=2439

And Tribesman, that doesn't surprise me, it's got a lot of magma to shift no doubt, it's going to be a tricky time for air traffic around Europe although if the wind shifts then some airspaces might be able to reopen, and others will have to close. I don't think it'll go the whole month though, if I had to put a time frame to it...and I admit I'm rather loathe to, but for the heck of it, I'm going to say a week, maybe two. Hopefully sooner, but as the airport representatives were all saying this morning, it's in the hands of nature.

[SteamWake]

I dont buy the 'better reporting' argument. If an earthquake had killed 400 pepole in China back in say 1950 we would have heard about it. Maybe not nearly instantly like today but we would have heard of it.