Guardian UK: Pilots warn against 'rash' decisions to allow flights

[marmar]

Volcanic ash cloud: Pilots warn against 'rash' decisions to allow flights
European airline pilots warn governments about engine failures caused by ash amid pressure to get flights moving again

Dan Milmo, James Meikle, Richard Norton-Taylor and Giles Tremlett
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 20 April 2010 17.46 BST


European airline pilots warned governments and safety regulators today against making "rash" decisions to allow planes to fly through volcanic ash clouds amid growing pressure from airlines across Europe to create "safe flying corridors" to get flights moving again.

The pilots' intervention came as air traffic controllers dashed hopes that flights would resume from London Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted this evening by announcing that most UK airspace would remain closed until 1am tomorrow. Airlines said the restrictions, which meant only a few flights took off from airports in Scotland and northern England, were an over-reaction.

BA announced tonight it was cancelling all flights until midday tomorrow.

The UK's air safety watchdog, the Civil Aviation Authority, is holding meetings with national air traffic controllers, airline executives and Lord Adonis, the transport secretary, to discuss flying through zones with small amounts of ash. But the European Cockpit Association, told the Guardian today that any attempts to establish "safe flying corridors" through airspace where ash was present should not be rushed. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/20/volcanic-ash-cloud-pilots-warning

[mike_c]

1. it is utter insanity to try and rush resumption of flights through suspended ash....

People need to get a grip. No amount of airline profit or traveling convenience is worth destroying planes, possibly in flight. It's a long way to the ground from 30,000 ft, but the descent is REALLY fast when the engines are grinding on molten glass.

[marmar]

2. Yup. I watched a "Seconds from Disaster" episode about a 747 whose engines.....

..... shut down because of ash from a volcano on one of the Indonesian islands. ..... Scary shite.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

3. a friend of mine just landed in ATL from Paris on AirFrance...

so...maybe not as bad as people are worried about...

sP

[marmar]

4. One flight that didn't have its engines shut down means everything's OK?

nt

[ProdigalJunkMail]

5. nope...but keeping the whole world shutdown doesn't make sense either... n/t

[ZeitgeistObserver]

6. Lot of over reaction these days.

ANGRY PILOTS: IT'S SAFE FOR US TO FLY NOW


Monday April 19,2010
By John Ingham

PILOTS and airlines led protests against the aviation lockdown last night, claiming it was perfectly safe for aircraft to fly at lower altitudes.

Germany’s Lufthansa and Air Berlin, and KLM from the Netherlands have all carried out test flights in the past few days and said there was no damage to their planes.

British Airways yesterday became the latest airline to send up a test flight to check the dangers posed by ash.

One former airline pilot said: “There seems to be a bit of an overreaction by the authorities. Nobody has previously shut down airspace over such a large area due to a volcanic eruption and you have to question whether the evidence for this is cast iron.”

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/170080/Angry-pilots-It-s-safe-for-us-to-fly-now