[QUOTE] Shergar?[/QUOTE] Richey James?
Curiously, the scientific analysis aircraft they keep sending up into the ash cloud looks like it might be a turbo-prop.
One of my workmates said yesterday that she had heard airlines are charging up to $12000 for internal flights in Europe at the moment for the ones they can get into the air. Are they really being that bastardish? Kev
Yeah, totally understand, but are they really doing it? There's shitloads of people stranded (by whatever definition of stranded). Kev
On Tue, 20 Apr 2010 21:08:51 GMT, Kevin Gleeson snip> I would have thought so. Most of them have lost a fortune over the last few days and they've got to recover it somehow.
I wonder what will happen when this one goes off: http://tinyurl.com/y5ju9zd That will be a HOOOGE[1] Force Majeure. [1] Norfolk for very large.
Yeah, and us lot down under wot work in banks aren't capable of converting euros to dollars because there's too much ash in our calculators falling down from up north Kev
The Icelandic PM's got a point about being prepared for it, but what's the likelihood the airlines and everybody else will carry on with no prep and get caught out again.
What 'prep' can they do? Is there some way of protecting the planes, and more specifically their engines, that I'm not aware of?
For a start, there needs to be some proper surveying and research into what density of ash is significant, and what it safe to fly through with some long-term effects. This last blanket ban (such as it was) was OTT, when many flights, in retrospect, could have been in the air and quite safely. The cost of flying might go up with the need to maintain and replace engines more frequently, but really we've been spoiled with cheap flights the past few years. Also, more detailed satellite obs - I'm sure the ash cloud and density might be gleaned more accurately and live-time via IR analysis. Radar has come on in leaps and bounds in the past 30 years - onboard systems *might* have an analyser watching out for significant cloud densities. There could be an ash collector/analyser mounted on the wing/fuselage. Basically all, or most, of the techs needed have been developed, sometimes for other areas of use. So, next time there's an eruption, an action plan swings into use - almost immediately there's real-time info on where the ash clouds are, the speed and density of them, the ash cloudbase, etc, etc. Airlines can route round/below/above areas of likely damage, no problem. Flaying is always risky, but there's no need to ground everything at the slightest extra risk. But the most important thing - kill all the ambulance chasers.
Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Champ Every time that's been examined in the past the problems of airflow and icing have got in the way. Turbine engines shift a *vast* quantity of air.
