19
   

NO FLY ZONE . . . IN ENGLAND ! ! !

 
 
hawkeye10
 
  1  
Reply Sat 17 Apr, 2010 02:49 pm
has anyone heard how the European rail system is holding up under the onslaught?

My main concern is for the mail to Iraq, as I have several boxes in transit. I have not heard of a mail stop, so hopefully it is going through the Azores, or something.
Walter Hinteler
 
  1  
Reply Sat 17 Apr, 2010 03:10 pm
@hawkeye10,
The railways aren't really effected ... besides being full. If your mail has booked a seat - all will be okay.

(As an aside: a normal postcard from Cornwall/England arrived here today - posted two days ago.)
hamburgboy
 
  1  
Reply Sat 17 Apr, 2010 03:14 pm
@hawkeye10,
Quote:
My main concern is for the mail to Iraq, as I have several boxes in transit. I have not heard of a mail stop, so hopefully it is going through the Azores, or something.


mail from bermuda to london is apparently routed from bermuda to toronto and from there to london ... but now the mail from b to london is stuck in toronto .

BERMUDA NEWS



http://bernews.com/2010/04/bermuda-snail-mail-stuck-in-toronto/

Quote:
The eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull has now grounded much of Bermuda’s intended mail deliveries.

Mail and packages which were destined for Great Britain, European or Asian transits sent out today [Apr 16] and in the last 2 days are detained in Toronto “until further notice”.

The volcano erupted on Wed Apr 14, and has been spewing ash clouds into the atmosphere.

Due to safety risks, flight officials made the call to cancel thousands of flights, including the British Airways flights in and out of Bermuda for today [Apr 16] and yesterday.

The Bermuda Post office have stated that all data express items, letters, parcels and registered mail that was dispatched on April 14, 15, and 16 which were destined for Great Britain, European or Asian Transits have left the Island, but will be detained in Toronto until further notice. The Bermuda Post Office apologized to customers for this inconvenience.
0 Replies
 
saab
 
  1  
Reply Sat 17 Apr, 2010 03:16 pm
@Walter Hinteler,
No air mail and no air cargo.
I have mail for USA - that has to wait for a few days till I bring it to the postoffice.
0 Replies
 
hawkeye10
 
  1  
Reply Sat 17 Apr, 2010 03:21 pm
@Walter Hinteler,
Quote:
The railways aren't really effected ... besides being full. If your mail has booked a seat - all will be okay.
that was the question, how are they dealing with the increase in passenger loads? Since privatization and the desire to cut all costs possible I assume that they don't have much excess capacity, not like the old days where there were lots of older cars sitting around in case of need.

Plus, we know that the Chunnel operators are fucked up on the best of days, I don't see them rising to the occasion.
Walter Hinteler
 
  1  
Reply Sat 17 Apr, 2010 03:37 pm
@hawkeye10,
All possible trains are running.
(In those good old days, we didn't have so frequently trains scheduled, like any hour between the North and South, West and East.)

You can't hire a car since Friday either - all booked out.
(Same, btw, with small private planes, since they are flying. [Below 3,000 m, planes still can fly.])


Quote:
http://i39.tinypic.com/qz0kly.jpg

Millions of stranded travellers face further air chaos as the volcanic ash from Iceland that has closed most of Europe's airspace continues to spread.

"We don't see the light at the end of the tunnel yet," a spokesman for the international airline industry said.

An estimated three-quarters of flights were cancelled on Saturday. About 20 countries closed their airspace - some have extended flight bans into Monday.

Scientists say the Icelandic volcano activity shows no sign of abating.

... ... ...
Source
hawkeye10
 
  1  
Reply Sat 17 Apr, 2010 03:55 pm
@Walter Hinteler,
looking around: Eurostar as expected can not meet demand in the Chunnel, they are fully booked till monday. The military is running flights to Iraq but using alt routes (normally they run though Germany or Ireland) , which I can not find details of. Refueling in the Azores is still my top bet.
0 Replies
 
CalamityJane
 
  1  
Reply Sat 17 Apr, 2010 04:01 pm
Cars queue up to board a ferry at the terminal in Calais, northern France.
Ferries and the Channel Tunnel have seen a huge increase in traffic.

http://img541.imageshack.us/img541/3152/picture3h.png
0 Replies
 
Ionus
 
  1  
Reply Mon 19 Apr, 2010 08:08 am
Can anyone tell me why they are not flying in daylight below a certain ceiling ? Even a little traffic would help ease the congestion.
hawkeye10
 
  1  
Reply Mon 19 Apr, 2010 08:11 am
@Ionus,
last report I saw had the cloud all the way down to 10,000 feet. The airlines are ripping the government bans however, and it is not clear that the ban was ever based upon just cause.
Ionus
 
  1  
Reply Mon 19 Apr, 2010 08:14 am
@hawkeye10,
I was thinking if they fly below 10,000ft in daylight it must be cheaper than paying hotel costs. They only have to do it to get to airports in africa or the canaries or india. We cant afford a disaster, we spent all our money on the poor banks...what if the airlines need bailing out ?
Ionus
 
  1  
Reply Mon 19 Apr, 2010 08:17 am
@Ionus,
In the original incident the aircraft flew far closer to the volcano than anyone is proposing they fly now. And when the emergency occured they didnt know what it was...totally different scenario to now.
hawkeye10
 
  1  
Reply Mon 19 Apr, 2010 09:40 am
@Ionus,
Quote:
In the original incident the aircraft flew far closer to the volcano than anyone is proposing they fly now. And when the emergency occurred they didnt know what it was...totally different scenario to now.
Governments are used to getting away with knee jerk reaction and then justifying the idiocy on "SAFETY!"...however in this case the ban is economically unsustainable. The fact that the airlines have already taken a Billion dollar loss that they can not afford is but the tip of the iceberg. The entire European economy has just taken a 2x4 upside the head.

THe go-to bullshit excuse "SAFETY!" is not going to fly this time.....
0 Replies
 
Izzie
 
  1  
Reply Mon 19 Apr, 2010 09:43 am
Quote:
The UK government's plan to rescue British travellers stranded by the volcanic ash cloud is developing. This is what we know so far - more details are emerging through the day. Bookmark this page and come back to it regularly to find out more information.

Before travelling, check the most up to date details with British consular officials as the situation is subject to change.

ROYAL NAVY SHIPS

The UK's emergency committee Cobra has been meeting to come up with an action plan which at the moment focuses on tasking Royal Navy ships to pick up people who cannot currently leave Europe.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has confirmed that three Royal Navy ships have been identified for the mission.

HMS Ark Royal and HMS Ocean are to go to the English Channel - but we do not know yet where they will be docking in France.

HMS Ark Royal's job will be to pick up stranded holiday makers and get them back to the UK. The aircraft carrier is currently off the coast of north-west Scotland because it was taking part in a major military exercise called Operation Joint Warrior. It may not reach the English Channel until Tuesday evening.

HMS Ocean looks like an aircraft carrier but is classed as an assault ship, designed to carry troops, landing craft and attack helicopters. It will join Ark Royal on the ferrying mission. It is currently in the western approaches to the UK within British territorial waters. Mr Brown said he expected the vessel to be in the English Channel later on Monday.

HMS Albion is another type of assault vessel known as a "Landing Platform Dock Ship" which is designed to deploy large numbers of troops to a location. It can carry 256 staff or troops plus a further 405 in overload capacity. Albion is being tasked to head for northern Spain where it will arrive at 0930 on Tuesday, It will pick up 220 troops from 3rd Battalion, The Rifles. These troops have finished a tour of duty in Afghanistan and will be flown to Santander from Cyprus.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8629392.stm


Quote:
1623 The Met office has warned that the volcano's activity has started to increase.

Aerial video of ash over Iceland

A Met spokesman told the BBC that whereas eruptions had subsided this morning to between 4,000 and 5,000 feet, they had increased within the past two hours back to a height of 10,000 ft.

Although this is not back to the initial maximum height of 30,000 ft, the spokesman said the unpredictable nature of the volcano's activity meant that there was still cause for concern.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8630145.stm
0 Replies
 
Irishk
 
  1  
Reply Mon 19 Apr, 2010 09:46 am
Photos of the effects of the ash on Finnish fighter jets who just happened to be flying through it on the morning of April 15. Oh my.
0 Replies
 
Walter Hinteler
 
  1  
Reply Mon 19 Apr, 2010 01:27 pm
The first flight from Mallorca (since Friday) landed this afternoon at our local airport - flying (at least) over Germany under visual flight rules .... and observed by the regional tv station

http://i41.tinypic.com/34h97qe.jpg

roger
 
  1  
Reply Mon 19 Apr, 2010 01:37 pm
@Ionus,
Maybe just costs, Ionus. Every ship has its best altitude, and a commercial airliner below 10,000 feet might have to kick out passengers to make room for the extra fuel. That may not be the factor, but it is true as far as it goes.

They probably couldn't maintain some required separation of flights at that altitude either, but I don't know about stuff like that.
hamburgboy
 
  2  
Reply Mon 19 Apr, 2010 01:39 pm
@Walter Hinteler,
http://www.suntimes.com/news/world/2174022,european-travel-volcano-ash-flights-041910.article

from chicago sun-times :

Quote:
The planes will fly to Frankfurt, Munich and Duesseldorf under visual flight rules, he said, noting that air traffic control is still keeping its restrictions on German airspace.

"We have an exception that allows us to fly so-called visual flight rules," he said.

Visual flight rules allow a pilot to fly the airplane without reference to instruments, if weather conditions are good enough so the pilot can see landmarks and avoid any other aircraft. Those flights need to be under 18,000 feet, lower than usual altitude for commercial traffic.



so what is the longer term outlook : getting better or not ?
it seems rather difficult to predict the " unknown " .
0 Replies
 
farmerman
 
  2  
Reply Mon 19 Apr, 2010 02:15 pm
@Setanta,
This thing is kicking out a basaltic magma (Tholeite) and that could mean its a plate margin thats sucking up deep oceanic crustal stuff and that could mean that this thing could go on for weeks or even longer. I saw a calculation that its an equivalent of a Mt St Helens every hour (just the ash load)

I wouldnt fly in this ****, its like tiny hunks of blasting shot made out of iron silicate . We may have to think about using prop planes for short runs (They can change filters on these every trip)

Oh, heres a little film clip somebody put up on youtube.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVWiL7yzIvI
0 Replies
 
rosborne979
 
  1  
Reply Mon 19 Apr, 2010 02:24 pm
I hope the people who decide the safety of this aren't pressured into resuming flights before it's prudent to do so. My concern is that jets will be exposed to low concentrations of this "cloud" and not show any immediate damage, however, these planes may be impaired slightly and take time for engine problems to develop. We might eventually see a spate of engine failures months or years from now. And by then the planes used in Europe could be flying anywhere else in the world.

 

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