Airport News - Volcanic ash levels never put planes in danger     

26th AprilApril 2010

Volcanic ash levels never put planes in danger

It is now emerging that the density of ash over UK skies never reached anywhere close to the levels that would have put planes at risk. Samples collected during the 6 day shut down show tolerance of only one seventh of the newly agreed safety level.

Indeed the Civil Aviation Authority admitted that at times during this period, samples collected hardly showed any evidence of ash. The skies were closed on evidence produced by the Met Office who tracked the flow and spread of the ash using a computer model to estimate density levels

.

Using these calculations NATS the government body declared the skies unsafe for flying and promptly closed UK air space causing misery to hundreds of thousands of travelers and financial melt down for many airlines and travel companies who have had to pick up the tab.

The National Centre for Atmospheric Science who carried out the tests said the highest density found was about 300 micrograms compared to a safe level of 2000 micrograms per cubic metre and this level was only found in patches with the cloud itself much thinner than predicted.

Airlines especially are becoming more vocal of their condemnation for the shutdown claiming all along that their own engineers were telling them that the cloud was not a problem and this is what forced the sudden change of heart by the government.

Calls for Government or EU compensation to lessen the financial impact is presently falling on deaf ears with the Department for Transport sticking to its original statement that they acted within the then known international guidelines. If compensation is paid out the question is how far it will go down the food chain. http://www.buzzle.com/articles/who-should-receive-compensation-from-the-flight-ban.html