Dying to get home?
Where are my brown trousers?
It’s very rare indeed that I would endorse a centralised EU response to a problem.
Europe’s air industry has called for an urgent review of flight bans imposed because of volcanic ash from Iceland.
The bodies representing most European airlines and airports have questioned the need for the unprecedented curbs, which affect millions of travellers.
And in reality, I don’t. But at a purely personal, visceral, human level: I hate flying. I’m terrified of it. It’s completely irrational and rather strange considering that I have been flying since I was six months old and really used to love it.
I suppose it’s because I now have something to lose – I only started feeling like this after my first child was born.
No amount of comment about the relative safety of flying abates the terror. And it wasn’t helped when a friend of mine pointed out the story of Speedbird 9 over the weekend (the reason why airspace has been shut down.)
I would hate to be on a flight in that situation and discover that the pilot in charge of my plane wasn’t as good or as lucky as Captain Moody:
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.
Distress? That doesn’t begin to describe it. And I’m not even near an airport!
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April 19, 2010 at 13:12 -
With you on this. I used to be quite happy flying as a passenger; I developed my healthy fear of being borne aloft by thin air and kerosene when I learned to fly myself.
I’ve been the victim of engine failure (in a single-engined craft), twice. It’s not really all that funny when it happens. When it happens in a five hundred ton coach with the glide ratio of a locomotive it’s less funny.
Also, there will be many people on the ground underneath the crash – it is not up to people whose main interest is profit to make decisions like this.
I detest H&S stupidity but there is absolutely no need to put ones knob in a bacon slicer just to see if what everyone says is true or not.
Nobody is going to die waiting for a plane.
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April 19, 2010 at 13:47 -
I was on a flight in front of speedbird 9, thankfully !!!
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April 19, 2010 at 14:12 -
“Nobody is going to die waiting for a plane.”
Most people aren’t, it’s true. But wasn’t there a story in the news this morning about a baby waiting on a bone marrow transplant?
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April 19, 2010 at 14:38 -
Fatalism is Dead, I see.
What intrigues me about the airlines’ response is that they want to put ‘planes up there to see “if it happens again”
Reminds me of the Programmer’s Joke.
On a macabre note, ‘ill wind’ and all that, if you want to travel from City Airport to the US, perhaps this is a good time to find out what price a Return Ticket to the US is down to. Standard Price
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April 19, 2010 at 14:43 -
Apparently Captain Moody’s announcement about all four engines having stopped was meant to be a message of reassurance. It has the merit of frankness but not sure that I would have found it reassuring.
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April 19, 2010 at 14:54 -
Knob in a bacon slicer ?
kinda depends if you know what knobs and bacon slicers are doesn’t it?
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April 19, 2010 at 15:01 -
It would appear that the ban is based on ‘computer models’ and not on actual physical measurements of the amount of dangerous ash in the atmosphere – all brought to you by the backers of global warming, the met office.
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April 19, 2010 at 15:24 -
I don’t recall US & Canadian authorities issuing widespread & prolonged flight bans after Mt St Helens blew its top off.
If the Icelandic ash dust is at 25,000 to 35,000 ft over northern UK & Europe, is it too logical to allow planes temporarily to fly at say 15,000 ft?
When will bans be implemented preventing overflights of Saharan Africa during sand storms?
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April 19, 2010 at 16:06 -
Apparently there are currently 6 active volcanoes around the world. Five of them are handled by the local air traffic control authority with a no fly area and height restrictions. The sixth has closed down a continent.
The wonderfully named London Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre whose advice is being used to justify the closure of UK airspace is run by the Met Office. It bases its forecasts on computer models rather than data from actual real-life flights through the clouds like those undertaken yesterday by KLM (10 test flights!), Air Berlin, Lufthansa and BA.
One has to assume that these computer models are more accurate than the ones used to forecast the weather or promote climate change. But given the results of the test flights seemly showing no adverse effects on the planes used I
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April 19, 2010 at 17:02 -
I think it was right that initially the airplanes should have been grounded. But they should immediately have started flying observer planes (prop driven) through the ash cloud to monitor it and make sure that it really was a danger to flight.
The media has commented on BA009 whose four engines cut out when it went through an ash cloud. However, it flew through a very thick cloud. Think blocking out sun density. And when it came out of the cloud, the engines re-started. There was quite a bit of damage to the plane when it landed safely which included the windshields and leading edges effectively being sand blasted, but it did land safely.
This ash cloud is nowhere near as thick. However it does cover a larger area. So rather than flying a short distance through a thick cloud, lika BA009, planes would be flying for a longh distance in a light ash cloud. Commulatively there might be the same level of damage, but no actual experiments have proved this either way. In any case the planes would not have fallen out of the sky.
What the goverment should have also been doing as well as their physical observations is planning and implementing contingency plans. The ferries and tunnel should have been encouraged to take as many people as possible, with the bending of rules where safety wasn’t compromised but comfort might. Immigration should have been a bit more understanding of the large influx of stressed passengers and not have been so pedantic in following rules. Planes should have been diverted to other airports and trains and coaches arranged after the first few dyas.
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April 20, 2010 at 21:28 -
1. Love planes and love flying
2. Was in the RAF, doesn’t give great faith in quality of the engineering for planes that are constantly in the air. Favourite phrase from those days “it’ll do a trip”.
3. Have flown around the world, from Peru to Japan and most points in between
4. Nearly died from pulmonary emboli from DVT after long-haul flight from a US holiday. Been to Japan twice since, but was on warfarin.
5. In the last two years have fallen under a train, been thrown from a horse three tines, knocked off my bike twice, lost job and had depression. Just lucky I guess
6. I’m a sceptic, nay a realist, and have to ask who would trust the Met Office to give any advice?
7. Have known Met Office personnel at some RAF camps I’ve been based at. Wouldn’t trust some of them to tie their own laces let alone forecast what they’ll have for breakfast tomorrow.Where’s this going, don’t know, just a brain dump
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April 21, 2010 at 08:36 -
Hoping to fly to Milan on Friday – as long as the pilot and his crew are happy to take off, so am I.
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