All UK flights grounded....

....due to a volcanic ash cloud from iceland.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23824710-flights-grounded-as-ash-from-icelandic-volcano-closes-uk-airports.do

 

here's an update from the BBC - glad it waited to erupt today - would have made a mess of the LMS race at Paul Ricard last weekend and coming home on Monday!

Carol

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8623534.stm

 

Smart move.......over the last 25 years or so there has been more than one flight that has lost all power, lost altitude, almost crashed but fortunately restarted, all due to the ingestion of residual ash from volcanic eruptions.

 

Totally agree, no question a smart call.

IIRC volcanic ash is not ash as we know it but rather very very small rock particles that just clogs **** up and beats the turbines to ****.....

 

Wasn't there a Japanese 747 bound for LA that ate some ash and just barely recovered?

 

And a BA 747 over Krakatoa........and a few others.......

 

Happened over Indonesia to a BA 747 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Flight_9

 

I still remember that story...hmmm 1982 huh? I was in elementary

 

You are correct. It is nothing but fine particles of silica, sand and other stone products from inside the earth. It does quick work with eroding rotating machinery of any kind and also can clog filters and burner cans. Bad stuff to breathe also.

 

@Bob Parks and Blue@Heart

This from Jalopnik:

 

Question from the ignorant, how dense does the ash have to be before it causes significant damage to the aircraft. Both KLM and Lufthansa carried out tests yesterday without problems, and my understanding of both of the the BA and KLM incidents, they flew directly through the Volcanic ash plume within 200km of the eruption?

The question is not just a curiousity question as I'm currently in India and likely to get stuck here if this is not sorted by Friday although obviously safety comes first and I don't disagree with the decision to close the airspace.

 

Some of France is open as of this morning. Paris opens at 6:00 pm today.

Jeff

 

KLM 747 back in 1989
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KLM_Flight_867

 

Ok, so the airspace is starting to open up, but that being said the delays are nowhere near over...

Crews and airplanes are out of position, there's a HUGE backlog of customers and cargo and it's gonna be 3 or 4 days once the airspace opens fully for everything to get back to normal

 

I received this in an email from one of my pilot friends.

Looks like trouble.

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I don't have any interesting observations, but thanks for the pics

 

Cessna sent out an email- that failure was caused by a chafing fuel line, resulting in a fire. Ash had nothing to do with it.

 

How could a fuel line fire OUTSIDE OF THE CASE cause a turbine disc failure inside the engine? That damage is definitely due to a failure of rotating parts. The blades or other rotating parts of a gas turbine have the same or more energy than a cal. 50 bullet. The holes shown in that case are from the disintegration of internal parts. I may be away from the game for a while but from what I can see in those photos tell me that it is an internal failure. A fuel line is usually forward and OUTSIDE of the burner cans and if or when they rupture the fire will torch and eliminate the aluminum cowling and eventually spool down the engine. I saw the results of this on the number one 707.
Swiches

 

before I make myself out to be a know it all I went back to the layout of a common gas turbine as I have known it. The fuel line from the strut feeds an internal manifold that in turn , feeds the nozzles inside combustion section. A break in the external portion will cause a fire on the outside of the engine. A break inside is something that I have never heard of but I can imagine that if indeed that is what happened, there could have been an explosion . Anyway, it's interesting.

 

This is the text of the email from Cessna:

 

Thanks, Don. I'm still only half way convinced. What in the world would fail from the fire and be flushed downstream? It's all stainless steel, Iconel-X,Stellite and other fire proof material.

 

Regardless of whether you or I are convinced, the engine actually failed on March 1, making it unlikely that volcanic ash was the cause.

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief2.asp?ev_id=20100302X25146&ntsbno=CEN10RA135&akey=1