Volcanic Ash disrupting flights!!

[airboatr]

truly spectacular .

[FlyTexas]

Fantastic pics!

Brian

[WhisperJet]

The only answer there was!!!

Cheers,

Nick

[delticbob]

Just heard on the latest BBC News, (6pm 22nd April), that the RAF have stopped training flights in Typhoons because an inspection has found ash deposits in some engines, (one engine??). BUT the CAA assures us that air travel is safe.

Edit - April 23rd - reported thats its four aircraft affected

Bob

[TSR2]

I had a chuckle at that myself Bob. I have a sneaking suspicion the airlines will come a cropper in a few weeks when they have no servicable engines for their aircraft. All that nonsense about the Typhoon engines being more susceptable. Think of the number of hours the Typhoon engine has done in the past two days verses the number of hours on the commercial airliners that have been flying through it. I suspect some chickens may come home to roost in the not to distant future!

[nigelb]

I thought this article was interesting. http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100421/w ... 9198354700

Nigel²

[VC10]

There was a letter in the Daily Mail on Friday from a Capt Rod Elliot who explains how he would have kept Europe flying. In short, his theory was apart from keeping a/c away from the tickest part of the ash cloud he would have had boroscope inspections of the engines made mandatory after every flight. "This would have taken time , an hour or two per aircraft....". this is where, with all due respect to the pilots who frequent this board, he demonstrates his lack of knowledge of aircraft maintenance.

It would take at least an hour for an engine to cool suffiencently for a boroscope probe to be safely inseted into a combustion chamber and turbine assembly and than at least 90 minutes to inspect and then compare the results with the previous inspection followed by a further hour to close up the engine again. That is for a single engine, now if the aircraft is a 747 with 4 engine to do.........

Simple, I hear you say, have another team to do another engine. That assumes you have the equipment and sutably qualified staff to do the job, and doesn't take into account all the other aircraft that are turning up from about 06:00 up to lunch time that all require the same job doing on all their engines and
with the aircraft due to depart from about 10:00 onwards.

When you do get the aircraft away, you have to repeat the inspection process at the other end with the correct equipment and qualified staff. The destination is NRT or somewhere with a 2Hr turn after a couple of days of this you have built in ever increasing delays into the flying program.

I'm afraid Capt Elliot didn't think it through.

So you don't get the wrong idea, I'm not saying inspections wouldn't be necessary, but the logistics are not a simple as they would first appear

Paul

[SkippyBing]

Just heard on the latest BBC News, (6pm 22nd April), that the RAF have stopped training flights in Typhoons because an inspection has found ash deposits in some engines, (one engine??). BUT the CAA assures us that air travel is safe.

Interestingly on the MoD Intranet they've now put out a short piece saying the Typhoons hadn't been affected by the ash and that it was all a terrible misunderstanding. Off course I doubt this will make it into the papers, but if you're a suspicious sort you might think the original statement was part of a ruse to make the six day airspace closure look like the right decision by HMG!

[DaveB]

Suspicious sorts??? I should say so!

ATB

DaveB

[airboatr]

I don't know Dave , there is suspicion , and then there is ..what are they up to now.

.... slight difference