Ash cloud that never was: Volcanic plume over UK only a twentieth of safe-flying limit

The Daily Mail (U.K.) ^ | April 25, 2010 | DAVID ROSE, MATT SANDY and SIMON MCGEE

[Stoat]

The Mail on Sunday can today reveal the full extent of the shambles behind the great airspace shutdown that cost the airlines £1.3 billion and left 150,000 Britons stranded - all for a supposed volcanic ash cloud that for most of the five-day flights ban was so thin it was invisible.

 

As the satellite images of the so-called 'aerosol index' published for the first time, right, demonstrate, the sky above Britain was totally clear of ash from Iceland's Eyjafjallajoekull volcano.

Inquiries by this newspaper have disclosed that:

 

• Attempts to measure the ash's density were hampered because the main aircraft used by the Meteorological Office for this purpose had been grounded as it was due to be repainted.

• Computers at the Met Office, which earlier forecast a 'barbecue summer' last year and a mild winter for this year, produced a stream of maps predicting the ash would cover a vast area, eventually stretching from Russia to Newfoundland. But across almost all of it, there was virtually no ash at all, and none visible to satellites.

•  Though there was some ash over Britain at times during the ban, the maximum density measured by scientists was only about one twentieth of the limit that scientists, the Government, and aircraft and engine manufacturers have now decided is safe.

'We never understood why a blanket ban had been imposed - something that would not have happened in other parts of the world,' a senior airline executive said yesterday.

[razorback-bert]

I have been wondering why there were/are no photos of ash covered airports in Europe.

[dr_lew]

The clouds showed up very clearly in the sat images.....not sure what this article is talking about.

On 04/15 you could see a plume extending across the North Sea, north of Scotland, reaching as far as Norway. This plume was predicted to drift south across France and Germany. By the time it did this, it was invisible.

Plumes from subsequent eruptions were visible only within a few hundred miles of the volcano.

A question I have is this: How does the ash density over Europe during the flight ban compare to the ash density ( over Europe ) in the days following the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption? The Mount St. Helens plume extended around the world, remember.

[dr_who]

What a bunch of ash-holes. I guess the best we can hope for is that a landslide will follow the volcanic eruption.

[muawiyah]

This volcano was also emitting gas clouds ~ some with rather high fluorine concentrations. That's rather characteristic of the whole Mt. Hekla formation.

Tell me how you keep track of an invisible (that is, transparent to transmission of light) gas cloud.

BTW, you must also look at the altitudes ~ earlier explosions tossed material far higher and away from aircraft. This time the explosions were pumping it into prime flying altitudes.

Frankly, none of the airlines were prepared to provide the customers with all the information they needed to decide if they wanted to board the planes. Fur Shur I'm never getting on a German airline again. Those guys are crazy!

[bigbob]

Yeah, OK...

But if a plane falls out of the sky there will be no end of hell to pay.

[muawiyah]

Bob, there are people who simply refuse to believe that transparent stuff like caustic gas can damage stuff and kill people.

Their view is that if you can't see it, it doesn't exist.

[Stoat]

See how on the ball we the government are? Vote Labour and keep the UK super-dooper safe! 

I can't wait for the reader comments at the Daily Mail site to start coming in.....if the Mail posts any of them, that is.  They're very much into the censorship-thing, although a few stoat-posts have made it through on some past articles.

Having this come to light immediately before the election is delicious.....even though so many officials will be running for cover and pointing fingers elsewhere, I fail to see how the sitting Government will be able to escape the public's wrath on this.

[SmartInsight]

They did it for “an abundance of caution”

Can you imagine what would have happened if they hadn’t grounded the planes and a few of them would have crashed?

It’s easy to have 20-20 hindside vision.

Also, for some who think a cloud is the same as the ash: Some articles said the ash contained SO2.

“Pilots can never fly through clouds of volcanic ash because these bits of pulverized rock and glass can melt in aircraft engines, causing power loss. The ash can damage aircraft electronic, hydraulic, ventilation, and data systems. Sulfur dioxide, another product of volcanoes also carried within the ash clouds following an eruption, is corrosive to aircraft. “

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/apr2010/2010-04-15-02.html

[Stoat]

I have been wondering why there were/are no photos of ash covered airports in Europe.

I haven't seen any in the UK press, but if anyone can find relevant photos they should feel free to post them here if they wish to.

When Mt. St.Helens blew, some of the ash made it as far as Seattle and perhaps further.  I've got vivid memories of ash-covered cars and lawns here in Washington, and of the sun being largely blocked out at midday from the ash

[Balata]

Tell me how you keep track of an invisible (that is, transparent to transmission of light) gas cloud.

BTW, you must also look at the altitudes ~ earlier explosions tossed material far higher and away from aircraft. This time the explosions were pumping it into prime flying altitudes.

My FRiend, you need to go the a thread you know something about.

[donna]

Somebody got rich. Who was it?

[TigersEye]

Not needless. It helps to bankrupt the EU moving us all closer to the global economic system and it provided a convenient excuse for 0bama, Merkel and Sarkozy to cancel going to Kaczynski’s funeral. Don’t want to PO Putin ya know.

[TigersEye]

Maybe they didn't need to ban flying ~

But they did.

but certainly providing customers with an informed picture of the risk might well have seen NO ONE getting on board those planes!

But they didn't do that.

[Carling]

Actually, I was just going by what was posted as information in the article in this thread. You editorialized your own comments. Care to back them up with any facts?

[Carling]

We got a day off of school in Billings, MT, and had traces of ash.

[Stoat]

Somebody got rich. Who was it?

Hoteliers and restaurateurs located near airports.

Taxi drivers.

Telephone companies.

Probably most any service industry in or near airports.

There's nothing quite like having a large group of customers who simply cannot shop elsewhere and who cannot compare or shop for the best price.

 

[TigersEye]

In Denver I had about an 1/8th of an inch of ash on my windshield every day for several days. I don’t recall any flights being canceled and I lived about 2 miles from Stapleton Int. Airport. I think I would have noticed the lack of roof-rattling landings.

[Little Pig]

I seem to recall that there were pictures of the interior of some european F-18 engines that had been severely damaged by the airborne ash cloud. Granted that commercial jet engines don’t require the same tolerances as military aircraft, nor do they operate at such high temperatures, but I for one have no problem with a temporary ban of flight operations when there’s a good chance of those flights, carrying civilian passengers, encountering highly abrasive volcanic ash. Better to deal with the PR for cancelled flights, than to explain to a court of inquiry why eight of your planes went down due to siezed turbines because you ignored the risk.

[DoughtyOne]

I’ve got this little theory banging around in my head, and it seems to me that the Western powers that be are trying to take down the middle-class. Every chance they get to take some of them down a notch or ten, they’re going to do it.

How else do you explain things like this? They could tell in a matter of hours if the air was clean or not. They didn’t care to check it out.

Snap of the fingers, tens of thousands of people were cut off and under a severe financial strain (in some instances).

[Carry_Okie]

All this time I've been wondering why they couldn't be routing planes through Lisbon, Barcelona, and Madrid. Now I hear that the whole thing is bogus.

Here we go again with another "dry run."