Remember that ash cloud? It didn't exist, says new evidence

Daily Mail ^ | SEAN POULTER

[ventanax5]

Britain's airspace was closed under false pretences, with satellite images revealing there was no doomsday volcanic ash cloud over the entire country.

Skies fell quiet for six days, leaving as many as 500,000 Britons stranded overseas and costing airlines hundreds of millions of pounds.

Estimates put the number of Britons still stuck abroad at 35,000. However, new evidence shows there was no all-encompassing cloud and, where dust was present, it was often so thin that it posed no risk.

The satellite images demonstrate that the skies were largely clear, which will not surprise the millions who enjoyed the fine, hot weather during the flight ban.

Jim McKenna, the Civil Aviation Authority's head of airworthiness, strategy and policy, admitted: 'It's obvious that at the start of this crisis there was a lack of definitive data.

[Tzfat]

Ash clouds, and particles carried thousand of miles by winds are not the same thing. I am an airline pilot. I work in airline management in safety and risk management. The hysterical response to this event is a classic example of people who know nothing, acting with authority they should not have. BA 009 and KLM 867 flew through ash clouds close to the source. Equating them with flying into Europe after an eruption in Iceland is stupid. Finally, someone in Europe is starting to ask the correct questions - and to point the finger in the correct direction: “scientists” and politicians.

[cripplecreek]

[a fool in paradise]

“Never let a good crisis go to waste...”

[Spok]

But I thought science was infallible??

[cripplecreek]

This isn’t science. This is pure reliance on computer modeling with no collection of hard data.

[facedown]

Bump an informed voice of reason.

[AnAmericanMother]

LOL!

Like my dear old dad always says, never jump out of a perfectly good airplane!

My sister took up skydiving, no thanks.

[cripplecreek]

This was a plane equipped with instrumentation to detect this sort of thing and it still missed it. The damage wasn't even evident in a visual inspection but it was pretty severe.

In the early morning hours of February 28, 2000, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) DC-8 Airborne Sciences research airplane inadvertently flew through a diffuse plume of volcanic ash from the Mt. Hekla volcano. There were no indications to the flight crew, but sensitive onboard instruments detected the 35-hr-old ash plume. Upon landing there was no visible damage to the airplane or engine first-stage fan blades; later borescope inspection of the engines revealed clogged turbine cooling air passages. The engines were removed and overhauled at a cost of $3.2 million. Satellite data analysis of the volcanic ash plume trajectory indicated the ash plume had been transported further north than predicted by atmospheric effects. Analysis of the ash particles collected in cabin air heat exchanger filters showed strong evidence of volcanic ash, most of which may have been ice-coated (and therefore less damaging to the airplane) at the time of the encounter. Engine operating temperatures at the time of the encounter were sufficiently high to cause melting and fusing of ash on and inside high-pressure turbine blade cooling passages. There was no evidence of engine damage in the engine trending results, but some of the turbine blades had been operating partially uncooled and may have had a remaining lifetime of as little as 100 hr. There are currently no fully reliable methods available to flight crews to detect the presence of a diffuse, yet potentially damaging volcanic ash cloud.

[null and void]

Even then, no hurry, you’ll always get to the crash site on time...

[rednesss]

"Frankly, I'll take sleeping on a chair in Heathrow any day of the week over plunging to my death from 30,000 feet."

You don't necessarily plunge out of the sky, Air Transat Flight 236 stayed aloft for 19 minutes with no engine power at all and was able to safely divert and land in the Azores instead of ditching in the middle of the Atlantic.

[dools007]

I’m surprised The Marxixt Onada didn’t take advantasge of the ash “crisis” to nationalize the airlines. Surely flying airplanes caused the Icelandic volcano to erupt. I bet he even has climate change (aka global warming) data to prove it.

In any case, didn’t Bawney Fwanks or some other leftist dem pol say that with respect to the manufactured financial “crisis”?

[the invisib1e hand]

ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahaha!

[the invisib1e hand]

I’m surprised The Marxixt Onada didn’t take advantasge of the ash “crisis” to nationalize the airlines.

It was probably a dry run. First you have to condition your victims.

[sportutegrl]

Next they will be saying that Man caused Global Warming doesn’t exist. (Oh, wait.)

[CodeToad]

It takes a severe amount of material for satellites to pick it up with visual sensors. That silicate is very fine and floats in the upper atmosphere without detection. Fan blades of turbine engines suck up enough of it from seemingly acceptable air quality and become contaminated with glass adhering to the fan blades.

[cripplecreek]

Agreed.

What it looks like happened in Europe was overreliance on computer modeling and not enough hard data collection.

The 2000 NASA flight was a considerable distance from Mount Hekla when it encountered the invisible ash cloud. Interestingly enough, that plane wasn’t damaged as severely as it could have been due to the ash particles being coated in ice.

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

From the beginning, I thought this was a phony crap lie…anything to keep folks off balance. Every week there is some new hysteria about the world coming to an end.

[Tzfat]

Again: An ASH CLOUD is not the same as what was over Europe 10 days ago. No one disputes avoiding ash clouds. What is in dispute is how an eruption 800 miles from Europe closes airspace for "volcanic ash" - and especially "volcanic ash" that is not visible.

When Mt St. Helens blew, the airspace was closed around the mountain. By the European (and apparently your) standards, the airspace should have been closed to the Mississippi River.

[cripplecreek]

Whatever you say “pilot”

LOL

[Tzfat]

Whatever you say “pilot”

That's "Captain" to you. I have thirty years of flying experience - 25 for a major US airline. In addition to my line flying duties, I also serve in management in Flight Operations, doing safety and risk assessment. This type of thing is my job - and I get paid a lot of money to do it.

What do you do?