Eyjafjallajoekull eruption NASA Terra Satellite at 1139 GMT Thursday 15 April 2010
1200 BST Thursday 15 April 2010 UK airspace was closed, all flights grounded. 0830 BST Friday 16 April 2010 the ban on flights was extended until 0100 BST Saturday 17 April 2010 with the likelihood of the ban being extended into the weekend.
Closure of UK airspace is unprecedented. The cause being the eruption of a volcano in Iceland which is spewing dust into the upper atmosphere. Were this dust to be ingested by jet engines it was would damage the engines.
Across northern Europe airspace has been closed and flights grounded. Which begs the question why a flight was allowed to take off from Farnborough Airport midmorning today (approximately 1030 BST)?
Never a pleasant experience at the best of times, passengers at airports have been subjected to indefinite delay.
For people living in close proximity to an airport it has been unexpected peace and quiet. Bliss.
The closure of UK airspace has served to highlight how dependent the UK has become on aviation, in particular airfreight, especially so-called fresh fruit and vegetables, for example green beans from Kenya.
The Eyjafjallajoekull eruption was the second in Iceland in less than a month.
see
Iceland volcano: UK flights grounded for second day
Tags: Aviation, business, climate, environment, Eyjafjallajoekull, flights, Iceland, UK, volcano
Keithpp's Blog 
April 16, 2010 at 8:17 pm |
During the day restrictions on UK airspace were extended until 0700 on Saturday and this evening were extended until at least 1300 on Saturday.
April 17, 2010 at 3:35 pm |
This morning the ban on flights in UK airspace was extended until 0100 BST Sunday 18 April 2010.