Volcanic Ash Cloud - An Overreaction?

[Return of the Silver Fox]

The cloud doesn't show up on aircrafts radar so it is difficult to avoid. The aircraft instruments can also be affected by giving a false speed reading.
If you consider that if 0.0005% were affected enough to crash you'd be losing one every couple of days. Do you consider this a tolerable risk?
Aircraft companies may be bleating about an over cautious approach but thats more about getting compensation than anything.

 

[Lump]

Have they just reopened every thing ?

 

[Lump]

You do realise how big this thing is?

said that a few times

 

[Cook$]

said that a few times

Aaah ya f**ker, just beat me to a "that's what she said".....!

 

[Buddha 3]

So why not fly under, over or around it?

Don't passenger jets do this when they encounter thunderstorms or other inclement weather?

Or are Airline bosses reluctant to spend money on the extra fuel for this?

Aircraft fly at certain altitudes for a reason. There is the fuel consumption, but there is also the minimum safe distance between craft. It's not just the money, intercontinental flying would become difficult if the right altitudes can't be reached. Besides, much of the traffic crossing the Atlantic to North America takes the Icelandic route.
Plus, pitot tubes getting clogged and giving false readings leads to planes falling from the sky. Case in point is last year's Turkish Airlines crash at Schiphol Amsterdam.

 

[Fisz]

Not to mention that you have to fly through after lift-off if you want to achieve cruising altitude (36000 feet seems to be the standard) and the cloud sits halfway on the way to it (20000 feet). Sure, planes can fly under it, but that raises fuel costs.

 

[Tony Harrison]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8634276.stm

Uh-huh.

 

[Exile]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8634276.stm

Uh-huh.

Did you miss the quote "following six days of discussions between aviation engineers and experts to "find a way to tackle this immense challenge, unknown in the UK and Europe in living memory"."?

Hindsight is always 100%, but speaking as someone who couldn't get out to Malaga due to the restrictions, I have no issue with the decisions made.

 

[stongle]

Did you miss the quote "following six days of discussions between aviation engineers and experts to "find a way to tackle this immense challenge, unknown in the UK and Europe in living memory"."?

Hindsight is always 100%, but speaking as someone who couldn't get out to Malaga due to the restrictions, I have no issue with the decisions made.

You told me you'd spent all your Euro's on a Romanian lady of the pole called Mindy.

Anyway, surprised noone pointed out the misake in the first post. Predator UAVs and Airliners don't have the same propulsion system.

 

[Tony Harrison]

Over 40 years after sending rockets to the moon, it took us 6 days and a flight ban to figure out that it was safe to fly through an ash cloud?