Volcano Eruption

[Govangirl]

Am I alone in thinking there's a lot of hype over this? Most of the population don't fly so actually it's not as if a great deal of us have been inconvenienced by this event despite Mr Govangirl fretting about his business flights. There was even extended news last night all about the poor air-travellers' so called plight. Surely most of us in urban areas feel that it is a wee reminder that this closeted artificial world can still be turned over by a relatively small force of nature? I am well aware there will be folk chiding me for this especially those who know people stranded - I do feel for them BUT maybe it's really a good thing that we see how utterly dependent people are on air travel - and how much the country should do to become more self-sufficient.

(Personally, I think it's Iceland's revenge for the financial crisis and for the disgraceful way the financiers are trying to impoverish the ordinary Icelandic people for the bankers' greed, but hey, it knocks the Pope's cover-up stories off the front page!)

If this had happened last Thursday instead of this, I'd have been stranded in Campbeltown which would have been interesting! I just think that, for a while, we should just enjoy less pollution and the lovely sunsets we've been promised!

[Bonnie Lass]

A family wedding has been affected by the Best Man (Groom's brother) not being able to fly in from Australia to Heathrow. He is now stuck in Perth. It does, however, highlight how small the world is these days (due to flights) and the global impact of such an event.

[Bertie]

I don't think you're alone GG but I think it's one of those situations where the authorities are damned if they do and damned if they don't. I saw a guy getting interview by an over zealous reporter last night accusing him over "over dramatising" the situation. However, if the authorities had allowed the planes to fly and there had been an accident the same reporter would have been pointing the finger asking why they hadn't grounded the planes. I, personally, can't remember such large scale disruption to the airports and I'm sure they didn't take the decision lightly. It will be interesting to see how long the situation continues. It also highlights once again, how vulerable we are to the elements.

[£3.73]

De-sensitisation or micro-management ?

Maybe just bad management ?

There is a major downside to a system that's top heavy with management. It's innefficient & error prone.
In better days, you have 1 manager & 99 subordinates. One decision ! It may be a right or a wrong decision ... Simple.
Nowadays you have 30 managers & 70 subordinates. That's 30 people who feel obliged to make a decision to justify their existence.
Or, basically ... 30 chances for the wrong decision to be made.

Tabloid headlines like AIRMAGEDDON !

Here are a few observations. This has happened before. In fact its been far worse before.
Yet there is no precedent for totally closing down all air traffic in Northern Europe.
Did anyone else notice the almost totally empty terminals ? Now, isn't that a bit strange ? Think about this. Normally when there's large scale disruption, airport terminals are awash with travellers camping out & bitching for possibly days on end. It would look more like a refugee camp. That is normal, the images we have seen are not normal.
Lastly, the Icelanders don't seem to have a problem flying helicopters in the direct vicinity of the volcano !!! (also news footage) ... yet I notice a story on the BBC about the helicopter air ambulance in Shetland flying a touch and go, life or death mission.

It's very strange.

These acts of god keep coming lol

[£3.73]

sitting here wide awake ... noticed a story on the BBC .... and perhaps it makes the most sense to me.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8624663.stm

Is this the end for the smaller/budget operators ?

The political will is definately to restrict the movement of people ... that's why it makes sense to me.

[EMDEE]

It's another reminder to the human race of their insignificant place in the wider scheme of things.

[£3.73]

It's another reminder to the human race of their insignificant place in the wider scheme of things.

ABSOLUTELY !

here's the live volcano webacam

http://eldgos.mila.is/eyjafjallajokull-fra-valahnjuk/

[EMDEE]

If it's just been disruption of air traffic, we've been pretty lucky so far.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1883_eruption_of_Krakatoa

[Bobbie En Tejas]

There are always volcanos.. I'm wondering how disruptive mt saint helens was to air traffic. The most I can find is the FAA stopped air traffic around the mountain. Portland Oregon, Tacoma and Seattle, Washington, Denver.. they are all closer than Iceland is to the UK. It blew the whole top off the mountain.

What makes this one so different?

[£3.73]

There are always volcanos.. I'm wondering how disruptive mt saint helens was to air traffic. The most I can find is the FAA stopped air traffic around the mountain. Portland Oregon, Tacoma and Seattle, Washington, Denver.. they are all closer than Iceland is to the UK. It blew the whole top off the mountain.

What makes this one so different?

My guess is they will kill off a load of airlines. Many airlines literally fly by the seat of their pants financially speaking, it wouldn't take more than a few days without income to kill some of them. Basically a similar situation to the banks last year. Make them bleed. Then jump in and save the ones you want. State banking, state airline etc etc etc

For the average person .... basically just an end to cheap air travel.

[Bobbie En Tejas]

I've become so cynical that even if the intentions were right and good, I see the wolves salivating over the opportunities afforded... is that paranoia? lol

And maybe they did stop air traffic after mount saint helens for a period of time, I just can't find anything that says so, and since my ex was a flight engineer on the west coast at that time, you'd think I would remember that if they did.

[£3.73]

I've become so cynical that even if the intentions were right and good, I see the wolves salivating over the opportunities afforded... is that paranoia? lol

No.

Even the bluntest tool in the box is eventually going to realise what's going on here.

[Malky]

What makes this one so different?

The composition of the ash. It contains particles of a glass-like substance that is very abrasive. Flying through that would be like sand-blasting the inside of a jet engine. The dust would also cause the engines to stall with no guarantee that they could be restarted. KLM were today carrying out an experimental flight through the gas cloud to see what damage would occur to their aircraft. It will be interesting to see what happens with that.

[EMDEE]

What makes this one so different?

The composition of the ash. It contains particles of a glass-like substance that is very abrasive. Flying through that would be like sand-blasting the inside of a jet engine. The dust would also cause the engines to stall with no guarantee that they could be restarted. KLM were today carrying out an experimental flight through the gas cloud to see what damage would occur to their aircraft. It will be interesting to see what happens with that.

There was a volcanologist on BBC News today explaining that the reason for this is the presence of glacial ice in close proximity to the eruption causing rapid cooling of the emissions and the creation of these shard-like solids in the cloud. The melting ice is also causing problems on the ground with flooding of the watercourses.

[£3.73]

You have to split this into 2 things.

1) The Volcano
2) The Reaction

On the volcano. EMDEE is right. The power of nature is awesome. Something like Krakatoa !!!

On the reaction. Every other month now the ARMAGEDDON headline gets trotted out.
Swine Flu. Global Warming. Banking. Nuclear terrorism, WMD, Earthquakes. Volcanoes, Tsunamis.
(what a year heh ! who would have thunk it ?)
An endless procession of "experts" explaining why things don't work like they used to (including the laws of physics).

We are bouncing along on a wave of catastrophic events.
Noone pays too much attention or investigates "the last one", as their focus is always on the new one.
It's rather naive to suggest this is being done to sell a few more newspapers.

These are strange times.