Volcanic clouds shut down european airspace

[Ruldra]

A small volcano completely shuts down Europe; news reporting this is the worst case of paralysis since 9/11. No one knows how long the volcano will stay active, its last eruption lasted for more than a year.

My parents were planning a trip to Europe in august, but it looks like they'll have to go somewhere else.

Anyone else affected by this?

[Ghegs]

I'm affected to the extent of my incoming and outgoing purchases/sales being delayed until who knows when (including Ketsui, ohnoes). If the situation continues longer it might hamper some vacation plans too.

But I'm still optimistic about this. Necessity is the mother of invention and nothing screams necessary like the shutdown or at least a serious slowdown of all international (and some national) traffic in most of the continent. Also airlines losing $200m per day is sure to get them working on solutions.

Hard to keep up; while I was typing this post there was some news that half of European flights might be flown tomorrow. While Finland's airspace could be shut down all next week...

[Ganelon]

Yeah, it sucks. The good thing though is that Europe is so small that intra-continental travel by land doesn't take that long for much of western Europe.

And it's also good everybody was so proactive about shutting down flights. That ash is murder on the engines. Nobody would want to be in a situation where they were totally helpless while their plane was crashing.

[Dragoforce]

I read that several flights were flying today already, so thing should be back to normal soon. Not that I mind though, I live right quite close to an airport and it's nice to have some peace and quite. I will be humming a diffrent tune if Ketsui gets delayed because of this though...

[MX7]

It's been like this for a while.

Things are crazy! I know of people stranded all over the world! My girlfriend's mum was moving to the Philippines tomorrow, which obviously aint going to happen now.

But... Not a single vapour trail in the London sky. Amazing.

[Specineff]

This the perfect excuse to start using hovercrafts commercially.

[Skykid]

Two gals at work couldn't take their flights this weekend. Pretty crazy.

Financiers warning the £200 million a day losses to airlines could cause another recession if things don't right themselves soon.

[John845]

Enjoy the chemtrail free skies in London, while it lasts.

[Ed Oscuro]

haha chemtrails

anyway this is a good day for mother nature...not so good for Europe vis a vis the US and Asia though.

Funny thing is that I was playing a game called Mystery Case Files: (yes I'm still dicking around with that series) Dire Grove as this has been unfolding.

[Vexorg]

My Mom and several of her siblings were supposed to be flying to Amsterdam through Reykjavik about a week and a half from now. I'm starting to suspect they may have to cancel their trip entirely now...

[DEL]

The Mother in Law is stuck in my flat . She was due to fly back to the Czech Republic yesterday.

Plus the Japanese Master who will be renting the flat from next month was also due to fly back to Tokyo yesterday, so he's stuck too.

[sven666]

damn ashcloud better not interfer with my japanflight next week

[Shocky]

damn ashcloud better not interfer with my japanflight next week

Damn.. the cloud seems to like to spin around, going over Europe to Russia, but coming back again, blocking Japan flights efficiently. I guess there's well enough time for the cloud to dissipate until next week, unless the volcano starts spewing out more of the stuff. It may be possible to fly through it at some point. Air travel companies and the military are doing test flights, but the results seem to be contradictory.


A couple of my colleagues are trapped in Portugal and Spain, and they have no idea how to get back home. Projects are hindered by this, but more importantly we can't have lunch together.

Just before the flight traffic was cancelled I was about to buy flights to Germany for May, but now I'll see what happens before doing any reservations. I do have flights to Dublin and London next month, hope this ash cloud moves over by then..

The shadow remains cast!

[Mortificator]

This whole situation might be related to something that happened a long time ago in Europe, and people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the Romans... you know, Julius Caesar and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, "We will serve you if you will get us free from the Romans." True story! And so the devil said, "OK, it's a deal."

And they kicked the Romans out. You know, the Europeans revolted and got themselves free. But ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after another. Desperately poor. That continent of Eurasia is one continent. It's cut down the middle. On the one side is Europe, on the other side is Asia. Asia is prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, ect. Europe is in desperate poverty. Same continent. They need to have and we need to pray for them a great turning to god, and out of this tragedy, I'm optimistic something good may come.

[worstplayer]

This whole situation might be related to something that happened a long time ago in Europe, and people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the Romans... you know, Julius Caesar and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, "We will serve you if you will get us free from the Romans." True story! And so the devil said, "OK, it's a deal."

And they kicked the Romans out. You know, the Europeans revolted and got themselves free. But ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after another. Desperately poor. That continent of Eurasia is one continent. It's cut down the middle. On the one side is Europe, on the other side is Asia. Asia is prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, ect. Europe is in desperate poverty. Same continent. They need to have and we need to pray for them a great turning to god, and out of this tragedy, I'm optimistic something good may come.

?

[Lordstar]

I was meant to be having my boss coming back on Friday and i was going away for a week on sunday. Both did not happen so now all the shit thats piled up because of the boss being away has essentialy reached max and im having to deal with it along with my regualr work load. Every time i try to take a holiday something shit happens. Last time it was a fucking irate kiwi throwing his rattle out of the pram this time it just did no happen at all. Serves me right for trying to take a break.

[ncp]

This whole situation might be related to something that happened a long time ago in Europe, and people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the Romans... you know, Julius Caesar and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, "We will serve you if you will get us free from the Romans." True story! And so the devil said, "OK, it's a deal."

And they kicked the Romans out. You know, the Europeans revolted and got themselves free. But ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after another. Desperately poor. That continent of Eurasia is one continent. It's cut down the middle. On the one side is Europe, on the other side is Asia. Asia is prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, ect. Europe is in desperate poverty. Same continent. They need to have and we need to pray for them a great turning to god, and out of this tragedy, I'm optimistic something good may come.

ohh what the

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaqWFo4-Mks

[BulletMagnet]

?

See this thread.

[D]

I heard Iceland air kept flying. Seems like they do not give a flying fork.

[Sasupoika]

Yeah, this sucks pretty much. My mother was planning to fly to London.
The airlines of Finland maybe closed for next week.

[img]
My parents were planning a trip to Europe in august, but it looks like they'll have to go somewhere else.

Out of curiosity, what country?

[sven666]

Out of curiosity, what country?

turkey

[Ruldra]

Out of curiosity, what country?

All scandinavian countries + Russia. This whole matter didn't bother them much though, they believe this problem will be long gone by august. They're scheduling their trip this week.

turkey

They already went there.

[Ed Oscuro]

anyway this is a good day for mother nature...not so good for Europe vis a vis the US and Asia though.

Funny thing is that I was playing a game called Mystery Case Files: (yes I'm still dicking around with that series) Dire Grove as this has been unfolding.

*and it is based on the idea of the world freezing and people not being able to move.

Anyway, I'm sorry I wrote the first line about this being a "good day for mother nature," that was a pigheaded and dumb thing to say.

Airplanes are not as efficient as travel could possibly be, but they're getting close. I imagine they beat everybody chartering small buses and taxis across Europe.

I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up being overall bad for the climate, if a significant enough number of people use automobiles that have to go through a large number of countries.

It also sucks that this may be the cause of more calls for bailouts. That's not strictly related to the climate but it is worrying. If there are bailouts of the airlines to preserve a way of life, the airlines will have to sign over enough profits to have made it worthwhile.

Can't wait for the space elevator and suborbital travel but you just know something could mess that up too.

[zakk]

This was perfect timing.

I flew into Heathrow last week, on Tuesday. Got in just in time. Airspace was closed most of the time I've been here; as a result my airline waived all change fees for flights going through Europe. I decided to stay here in the UK an extra week and had them change my flight; "But sir, your flight isn't cancelled yet." "I know".

Two hours after I did that, they announced Heathrow was reopening. My original flight is actually cancelled though.

So basically a volcano in Iceland allowed me to extend my stay a week for free. Iceland is my favorite country now.

[neorichieb1971]

I think the mother nature thing is good for us as humans. The planet will be around wether its as cold as Pluto or as hot as the sun.

[neorichieb1971]

Jose Mourinho cracks me up. Quote "Maybe I have a friend in the volcano so maybe it is my fault"

In relation to Inter Milans win over Barcelona last night.

[Ganelon]

On a side note, I can't believe the comments I'm seeing from idiots on places like CNN. They act like this whole event has been an overreaction and that flying through ash is equivalent to flying through polluted air or something. Luckily, they're getting put in their place by folks who know about planes or past incidents.

It's unfathomable how many ignorant folks comment without doing some research. Hell, we should have boarded these folks up into a plane to fly in the ash and see what happens; then, maybe their deaths would serve as a lesson that safety is far more important than convenience.

[emphatic]

Where's mah Ketsui!?

[Ed Oscuro]

I think the mother nature thing is good for us as humans. The planet will be around wether its as cold as Pluto or as hot as the sun.

Can somebody translate this for me? I don't know what this means.

Also I hope no German ladies are waiting to stash a dead relative aboard any planes, that would be really embarrassing having to wait days to get aboard.

[ZOM]

On a side note, I can't believe the comments I'm seeing from idiots on places like CNN. They act like this whole event has been an overreaction and that flying through ash is equivalent to flying through polluted air or something. Luckily, they're getting put in their place by folks who know about planes or past incidents.

It's unfathomable how many ignorant folks comment without doing some research. Hell, we should have boarded these folks up into a plane to fly in the ash and see what happens; then, maybe their deaths would serve as a lesson that safety is far more important than convenience.

No shit. Just a bunch of particles from a pyroclastic cloud could very well mean bye bye to any rotary engine.