Thread: Iceland Volcano- Economic disaster?

Hey James,
Very glad to have someone post on this phenomenon. Tragic and ripple effects could be severe, no doubt - and what you said seems all likely.

I don't mean to take away anything, but I can't help but to also consider this type event in context of "carbon tax and trading." I recall a mini-ice age (~2/300 yrs. ago) were a result of some other similar event, I think from eastern Pacific.
It is very humbling to consider just how much damage humans might cause, vs what events such as this cause as natural cycles of the earth.
VR

I just wish it had a different name.

How do you pronounce:

Eyjafjallajokull ???

Originally Posted by James48843

I just wish it had a different name.

How do you pronounce:

Eyjafjallajokull ???

"That volcano in Iceland."

That volcanic ash is some nasty stuff. If it gets on the engine blades, it turns to glass, so I'll wager the damage it can cause to aircraft far exceeds the potential profit to be made during that timeframe.

Eyjafjallajokull = Islandmountainglacier, I think?

Originally Posted by Show-me

"That volcano in Iceland."

Yeh. I kind of like that.

Business isn't taking the groundings lightly.

Take a look at today's UK newspapers:

Volcanic ash cloud: British Airways fly in the face of ban

British Airways last night challenged the blanket ban on flights as its chief executive took to the skies to test the effects of volcanic ash on its aircraft.

By Martin Evans, Alastair Jamieson, Richard Alleyne and David Millward
Published: 11:49PM BST 18 Apr 2010

The chaos caused by the eruption of an Icelandic volcano, now entering its fifth day, has left more than one million British travellers stranded abroad.

The unprecedented disruption to airline passengers, which has threatened to leave schools closed and businesses without workers after the Easter holidays, has already cost the economy £500million and is costing airlines worldwide £130million a day. Last night BA became the latest airline to challenge the necessity of the no-fly zone imposed by British air traffic authorities amid claims they had “overreacted”.

Willie Walsh, the airline’s chief executive, joined four crew in a three-hour test flight from London, over the Atlantic, to Cardiff. Today the airline will study the effects of the flight on engines before concluding whether it is safe to fly or not.

A BA spokesman said: “We would not be doing this if we did not think it was safe and didn’t have the necessary permission. We would not do anything which would jeopardise our crew or aircraft.”

The ban on flights is due to run until 7pm today at the earliest. The test flight came as Gordon Brown called a ministerial meeting amid suggestions the Government had been too slow to react. Five ministers – Lord Mandelson, Lord Adonis, Tessa Jowell, David Miliband and Lord West – lined up outside Number 10 after the talks to announce plans for Spain to be used as a transport ''hub’’ to try to get British travellers back home.

Spain’s airspace was opened up last night and plans were being made for British airline passengers to fly into Spain before being placed on naval or private ships to take them back to Britain.

With replacement bus, train and ferry services running out of capacity, the Tories earlier had proposed that ships be commandeered to get people back to Britain.

The Dutch airline KLM had earlier carried out a test flight through the ash cloud over Dutch airspace. A spokesman for the airline said: “We have not found anything unusual and no irregularities, which indicates the atmosphere is clean and safe to fly.”

Lufthansa also flew 10 aircraft from Munich to Frankfurt on Saturday with the blessing of the safety authorities.

A spokesman said: “We found no damage to the engines, fuselage or cockpit windows. This is why we are urging the aviation authorities to run more test flights rather than relying on computer models.”

Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus, the Secretary General of the Association of European Airlines, said: “Verification flights undertaken by several of our airlines have revealed no irregularities at all; this confirms our requirement that other options should be deployed to determine genuine risk”.

Last night Ryanair announced it was cancelling all scheduled flights to and from the UK, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Holland, France, Germany, Poland and the Baltic States until 1pm British time on Wednesday.

Theresa Villiers, the shadow transport secretary, said: “With thousands of Britons stuck in airports overseas, it is hugely worrying that there is no end in sight for the flight ban. This crisis is costing the economy millions of pounds every day and causing huge amounts of travel misery.

''Those who are stranded abroad need reassurance from the Government that they are doing all they can to help get people home and address the crisis.”

The blanket ban was initially imposed on Thursday by Nats, the national air traffic control service.

Keith Bill, a spokesman for the pilots union BALPA, challenged Nats to prove that they have taken advice from counterparts around the world who have greater experience of ash clouds caused by volcano eruptions.

Jo Gillespie, an aviation safety expert, said: “Without having the data to back up the decision this looks like an overreaction and is hugely damaging to the already suffering airline industry.”

Volcanic ash cloud: TV historian Dan Snow’s attempt to rescue stranded Britons thwarted by French

VIDEO: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8628653.stm

A Dunkirk-style rescue mission launched by television presenter Dan Snow to bring stranded travellers home from France was scuppered by French officials.

The historian and transatlantic adventurer set out across the English Channel on Sunday morning with a fleet of speedboats to help those effected by flight cancellations.

Many Eurostar services are sold out and ferry firms have been inundated, with passengers queueing for up to three hours to secure foot passenger tickets.

Mr Snow, 31, who last year presented a documentary on the Little Ships of Dunkirk, invited stranded Britons via Twitter to reserve a place on his boats.

He had planned to run a continuous ferry service back to Dover throughout Sunday – a 40 minute trip across the 26 mile stretch of the English Channel.

Any profits would go to the Help for Heroes charity. But French officials only allowed him to use three boats to rescue 25 people.

Arriving back in Dover, Snow said he was "disappointed" to have left so many people behind.

"The French shut us down – it's a real shame. I'm really a bit disappointed and feel bad for all the people we left behind.

"I got a lot of text messages saying 'where are you? We are at the rendezvous point'. I feel really sad about that."

Asked why the operation had been halted, Snow said: "They didn't like the idea of all those RIBs turning up and taking Brits back.

"They just told us they didn't like us doing it and said it was bad competition for the ferries."

On Sunday morning five RIBs – rigid inflatable boats – arrived at the French port.

The group had planned to ferry as many people as possible back to Britain during the course of the day.

Each round trip was expected to take two hours.
The team's effort was inspired by a recent project for the BBC marking the 70th anniversary of the Dunkirk evacuation.

They used boats borrowed from a Dover yachting firm and had appealed for people who urgently needed to get back to the UK to make contact with them on Twitter.

But a tweet on Sunday afternoon informed followers the mission had been aborted and apologised to those whose hopes of returning with the flotilla had been dashed.

The posting read: "We have been shut down! No reason. Rescued 25 on way home shortly. No more boats we are very sorry."

Source:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/tr...by-French.html

Fish stuck in Heathrow Airport starts to rot.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8628794.stm

Yuuckk.

EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas says "This is not sustainable".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8628727.stm?ls