tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10000144.post3125144568272816398..comments2024-03-13T09:47:40.487+00:00Comments on Cockpit Conversation: Iceland: Not Just IceAviatrixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13634111275860140084noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10000144.post-16357817216994293752010-04-22T09:39:46.404+00:002010-04-22T09:39:46.404+00:00Am I overly sensitive, or was that "perilous ...Am I overly sensitive, or was that "perilous passage" article just a bit over the top? I myself find it hard to think of something gilding at a 15:1 ratio as "plunging," even if it is losing 2000 fpm.<br /><br />What are they going to report next? The recent 747 flight where the pilot "shut off" the engines whilst still "miles away" from the airport, causing a "plunge" down to the runway, where it "impacted at at 180 mph"?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10000144.post-89181481756654299092010-04-21T22:00:13.794+00:002010-04-21T22:00:13.794+00:00By the way, if you've not already seen it, her...By the way, if you've not already seen it, here's a great site to watch the planes over europe...<br /><br />http://www.flightradar24.com/Paul Bnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10000144.post-4807036241630973452010-04-21T21:56:50.037+00:002010-04-21T21:56:50.037+00:00I was due to go to Sweden to give training this we...I was due to go to Sweden to give training this week, but that had to be cancelled due to the lack of flights.<br /><br />I looked at alternatives, like trains, but with a travel time of around 2 days, that wouldn't work for me.<br /><br />It has been strange to look up into the sky (and this last week, we've had lovely clear skies for a change) and NOT see the vapour trails.Paul Bnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10000144.post-16072865399112024122010-04-19T18:27:03.308+00:002010-04-19T18:27:03.308+00:00Aha, looks like aluwings has answered my question....Aha, looks like aluwings has answered my question. Yes!<br /><br /><a href="http://aluwings.blogspot.com/2010/04/random-touch-and-goes-at-zurich.html" rel="nofollow">Zurich T&Gs</a>Sarahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09991660841701835065noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10000144.post-1377326403051089422010-04-18T11:09:45.461+00:002010-04-18T11:09:45.461+00:00I guess I have the dubious honour of having been o...I guess I have the dubious honour of having been one of the first cancelled passengers as I chose the day of the eruption to travel home for 2 weeks. Never mind. <br /><br />Three days in and the airlines generally are starting to get tired of these blanket airspace restrictions based on <i>forecast ash area</i> (it's not the airlines who aren't flying, it's the authorities who won't let them) and the last Euroontrol conference call was a bit agitated.<br />I think some companies are willing to trade extra wear for the possibility of getting at least a few flights going.<br /><br />S.Splendorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11010620882390615773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10000144.post-28754106004554097252010-04-18T04:12:15.043+00:002010-04-18T04:12:15.043+00:00Sarah,
If you're not flying directly in an er...Sarah,<br /><br />If you're not flying directly in an eruption plume, the concern is not sudden engine stoppage, but accelerated engine wear. Volcanic ash is about the worst imaginable substance to aspirate into your engine. It's hard as glass, and unlike most dust which is the result of erosion, and thus fairly rounded on a microscopic level, volcanic ash is very sharp.A Squarednoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10000144.post-71726054715889342272010-04-18T01:13:25.724+00:002010-04-18T01:13:25.724+00:00@A^2: Which direction do you suppose ash goes rela...<b>@A^2:</b> <i>Which direction do you suppose ash goes relative to the local gravitational vector, up or down?<br /><br />How much ash is in the air you're flying thru? How do you tell when you're IMC?</i><br /><br />How much ash invisibly falling (<b>down</b>, I'm pretty sure) from high altitude clouds do you think it would take to clog an piston engine intake filter? <br /><br />Why would anyone concerned about volcanic ash choose to fly in IMC?<br /><br />It's moot anyway - the large airports are just closed, as is much of the actual airspace.Sarahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09991660841701835065noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10000144.post-40668848672196494312010-04-17T20:06:58.211+00:002010-04-17T20:06:58.211+00:00Yeah, just came home from a walk during the hour o...Yeah, just came home from a walk during the hour of sunset and did a fair amount of biking today. The only aircraft in the skies above MUC/EDDM was a blimp today.<br /><br />The sky looks fascinating with no contrails. It must be the best of all days for film crews considering how much trouble they go through when they have a pre-1920 (or so) story and can't do any filming outside because a 747 with a contrail just won't fit in the scenery of knights and castles.zbnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10000144.post-3658580715406739882010-04-17T19:52:52.779+00:002010-04-17T19:52:52.779+00:00Townmouse: here's some local colour from west ...Townmouse: here's some local colour from west of Heathrow. <br />It's been a very quiet cloudless blue-sky day, absolutely nothing up there except acrobatic red kites and about an hour before sunset, a single light aircraft at about 2500'. I don't know why it was allowed out when the others aren't. <br />Just now a golden afterglow is fading to indigo with one bright planet in the south-west. And not one moving light anywhere on that perfect dome.<br />The quiet picks at the edge of your awareness: you don't normally notice the whine and grumble of aircraft so when it stops you just have a vague feeling of something unusual.<br /><br />It wasn't like this in 2001 because then only transatlantic traffic was affected. Now it's all stopped.Cirrocumulushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11357630236254664430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10000144.post-92192706485515985832010-04-17T17:18:33.850+00:002010-04-17T17:18:33.850+00:00Surely the service ceiling of any piston aircraft ...<i> Surely the service ceiling of any piston aircraft is well below the ash cloud? </i> Which direction do you suppose ash goes relative to the local gravitational vector, up or down?<br /><br />How much ash is in the air you're flying thru? How do you tell when you're IMC?A Squarednoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10000144.post-87355024010507459122010-04-17T17:15:52.607+00:002010-04-17T17:15:52.607+00:00I've never had a volcanic ash encounter, nor h...<i> I've never had a volcanic ash encounter, nor had to cancel a flight for ash. </i><br /><br />Once the novelty wears off it's a real freaking nuisance. (novelty wore off for me about 20 years ago) I could quite happily live with no more volcanic eruptions.A Squarednoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10000144.post-74927834190232836992010-04-17T13:51:15.182+00:002010-04-17T13:51:15.182+00:00So, is it a general aviation party in Northern Eur...So, is it a general aviation party in Northern Europe? Are the Cessnas and Pipers flocking Heathrow and Amsterdam?<br /><br />Surely the service ceiling of any piston aircraft is well below the ash cloud?Sarahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09991660841701835065noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10000144.post-27223269125589865552010-04-17T13:20:19.706+00:002010-04-17T13:20:19.706+00:00Good points, you guys. I'm glad I did the post...Good points, you guys. I'm glad I did the post.Aviatrixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13634111275860140084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10000144.post-75863733525874897402010-04-17T11:09:25.216+00:002010-04-17T11:09:25.216+00:00I have to admit, I'm enjoying this (even thoug...I have to admit, I'm enjoying this (even though my sister has had to cancel a visit to my parents). I almost wish I still lived and worked under the Heathrow flight path so I could really appreciate it... Like zb, I think we've all started to take flights far too much for granted and if we have to live for a week or so without Kenyan green beans, or weekend trips to our second homes in Tuscany, it will do us all a world of good. And if we have to rearrange our lives a little so that flying is reserved for when it's really needed, then so much the better.townmousehttp://cityexile.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10000144.post-66287784455775370332010-04-17T07:03:48.167+00:002010-04-17T07:03:48.167+00:00Greetings from a city that has its airport closed ...Greetings from a city that has its airport closed since 8pm last night. I feel bad for everyone who is stuck now, but if you manage to go back one step and try to look at it from a wider angle, some things come to mind that I like:<br /><br />- Isn't it incredible how much we take the air travel system for granted and don't seem to appreciate how much complexity is involved in terms of technology, logistics and people to keep it alive? The ignorance proven by the quotes in your post seems to prove this even more.<br /><br />- Isn't it great how many people are still able to reach their destination at least within central Europe and at least within, say, 200% or 250% of their original scheduled time of travel because of a good train network and the diversity of road travel? I really have no intentions to bash on the airlines, it's just that I don't like to depend on just one way of doing things. It's an idea called freedom.<br /><br />- Again, I don't want to bash air travel, but if I lived underneath the departure path of FRA, AMS, LHR or any other huge airport, I would party so hard that my neighbors would have just another sleepless night.<br /><br />I think an event of this scale does have the power to make us ask some good questions and because the event was triggered by nature and not by war, terror or weird politics, it may even be a bit funny -- even though a lot of people are put in an uncomfortable situation.zbnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10000144.post-10811464591582199532010-04-17T01:49:30.347+00:002010-04-17T01:49:30.347+00:00My favorite phrase from the news reports about thi...My favorite phrase from the news reports about this is "cloud of basalt". Basalt is not one of those things that you typically think of as coming in clouds.crzwdjkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06394805356595604336noreply@blogger.com