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Because the airlines are losing millions of dollars every day when they are not able to fly through a large number of European Countries, and the ASH is expected to last for months, they now want permission to throw caution to the wind and fly their jets anyway. They want to wing it and hope for the best. Passengers would likely have to sign some type of release and agree not to sue if the plane crashed.
If you were trapped in Europe, would you fly through the ash and hope to make it back alive?
KLM pushes to resume passenger flights after tests - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_iceland_volcano - broken link)
Because the airlines are losing millions of dollars every day when they are not able to fly through a large number of European Countries, and the ASH is expected to last for months, they now want permission to throw caution to the wind and fly their jets anyway. They want to wing it and hope for the best. Passengers would likely have to sign some type of release and agree not to sue if the plane crashed.
If you were trapped in Europe, would you fly through the ash and hope to make it back alive?
KLM pushes to resume passenger flights after tests - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_iceland_volcano - broken link)
Okay, I'm not a pilot so...take my comment with a grain of salt..BUT - I would venture to say we don't have pilots willing to die to fly, nor do the crew. SO, I would presume that the pilots would only agree to resume flights in particular airflight patterns should they feel unthreatened by that path. I'm sure there is someone with a much more "technical" point of view of the matter, but I am just thinking pilots and crew would be up in arms if the risk was that they really believed they would encounter an issue.
I'm supposed to be flying to Manchester, England on May 1st. I'm not at all sure I'd want to take the risk of flying into a volcanic ash cloud. Hopefully, by the time my trip comes up, this will have been resolved. It would take a huge act of faith for me to occupy my window seat on one of the first flights to resume - especially since there's no guarantee the winds wouldn't shift, and I might get stuck across the pond with no way of getting home after a week.
The test flights only reveal certain conditions at that time, at that altitude, etc. I'm not going to trust my life to one or two test flights that were conducted with no measuring equipment, etc.
I think the key is the density of the ash. Most of the catastrophic loss of engines occur near the vicinity of the volcano. Iceland is hundreds of miles away from mainland Europe, so it makes sense to decide at what point is it still safe to fly. The ash will naturally disperse over a large area and thus is not very dense and may not be as dangerous.
Location: Jonquil City (aka Smyrna) Georgia- by Atlanta
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tough Questions
Because the airlines are losing millions of dollars every day when they are not able to fly through a large number of European Countries, and the ASH is expected to last for months, they now want permission to throw caution to the wind and fly their jets anyway. They want to wing it and hope for the best. Passengers would likely have to sign some type of release and agree not to sue if the plane crashed.
If you were trapped in Europe, would you fly through the ash and hope to make it back alive?
KLM pushes to resume passenger flights after tests - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_iceland_volcano - broken link)
A good pilot and plane can fly through anything. We have to get air travel moving again. Unlike the USA, there is no alternatives to flying overseas. There are no ships from the UK to the USA anymore. Just put the best planes and most experienced pilots and let's get flying!
A good pilot and plane can fly through anything. We have to get air travel moving again. Unlike the USA, there is no alternatives to flying overseas. There are no ships from the UK to the USA anymore. Just put the best planes and most experienced pilots and let's get flying!
Very few people have to fly overseas. Most business can be done via phone, computer or video-conferencing. Most leisure travel is non-vital. Yes, it is annoying but I would rather trust the judgement of the authorities than some airline worried about its profit margin.
Location: The Raider Nation._ Our band kicks brass
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My guess would be that Pratt & Whitney, Rolls Royce, and GE are studying samples of the ash to determine the affects on their engines. They will have a big say on which planes will be able to fly. If each company is comfortable with the ability of their engines, the governing bodies will give the go ahead.
I wouldn't let a Russian built plane anywhere near an ash cloud. Their crap barely gets off the ground on a good day.
Location: God's Gift to Mankind for flying anything
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Not sure *really* what happens, in the engines, but what I do know is that the engines have a vast amount of sensors. When the ash gets into the engines, the ash melts and covers the sensors, making the engine think something is wrong, and thus shuts off, or does something else scary.
The KLM flight, a long time ago had a similar problem, and they were able to start the engines after falling a long time. So, IF they fly at extreme altitudes, and they get into a problem, they may be able to use the air below them to start their engines again.
Would I fly one of those planes in that ash ?? As a pilot, I would not. But that is me.
A good pilot and plane can fly through anything. We have to get air travel moving again. Unlike the USA, there is no alternatives to flying overseas. There are no ships from the UK to the USA anymore. Just put the best planes and most experienced pilots and let's get flying!
Nothing like getting caught with all you eggs in one basket to wake you up to the fact that you're screwed!
Maybe now people will slow down enough to buy passage on a luxury liner once again to be able to travel at will not depending on air travel anymore. This change needs to happen anyway with peak oil causing fuel prices to skyrocket (IF they can even buy air craft fuel) in the future.
Also remember as the worlds oil supply dwindles to zero ONLY military aircraft will be allowed fuel to fly so the world better get busy building ships again!
If the planes could fly through the ash without risk why did they stop flights for four days and cause all that problem. (NEVER MIND!!)
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Hopefully, by the time my trip comes up, this will have been resolved. It would take a huge act of faith for me to occupy my window seat on one of the first flights to resume - especially since there's no guarantee the winds wouldn't shift, and I might get stuck across the pond with no way of getting home after a week. 
