Meanwhile back at the volcano which was joined by a brilliant display of the Northern Lights.
Already the papers are reporting that the ash cloud wasn't as bad and that flights should have continued and/or re-commenced much earlier.
If you want to know what happens when a jet flies through an ash cloud then go here
and decide whether it was better to be safe than sorry. This was only one jet but if flights had gone ahead regardless, think of how many planes would have been in the air and calculate the odds on how many would have been downed.
10 comments:
i'm glad they played it on the safe side. I saw a pic of some of the stuff that was in an engine of one of the test planes, there was all crap in it. Imagine if they'd flown and people had died... seems they can't win no matter what they do.
When planes take off, then seem to stop, hanging in mid-air, nose up, I am terrified.
(Of falling backwards)
-Robert. OAM.
Tend to agree with you Coppers, I think the threats of litigation are nothing on what would be bandying around if they had sent planes up into the worst of it- and one had crashed.
Stunning pic.
I have flown exactly twice in my whole life, both times many years ago, but I remember vividly that moment that Robbert describes. If I was a more easily frightened person, that would put me off flying. As it is the cost of travel is what puts me off. I can understand why planes stay on the ground under certain conditions, though, having stuff like ash etc stuffing up those very expensive engines and possibly causing crashes is to be avoided at all costs.
Fen, that link was only the first plane to get stuffed that way but there were a lot more in later years. Just one more thing to worry about along with terrorists blowing up their jocks.
Robbert, I don't fly ever. If I saw 3 other fat backsides getting on my plane then I'd know we were overloaded and wouldn't make it off the ground. That's not to say I haven't flown, the Wright brothers were awfully nice chaps.
Armagny, what were the chances of an eruption and northern lights giving us a display?
I know it must have been hard on families trying to get home but I was talking to an English girl yesterday and she was saying that her brother's car was covered in ash so it might have been clear but not everywhere.
River, I agree. I'm more the Orient Express type of traveller. I would really like to go on the Indian Pacific, watching the country change, drinking Bombay and eating my way across the continent.
Um, still fascinates me "WE OWN THE LAND" .. heh
Davo, we own the land like microbes own our skin in other words we can be brushed off any time.
JahTeh, if you ever take that Indian-Pacific trip, let me know when you'll be arriving in Adelaide and I'll get to the station and say hello. Maybe even buy you a vanilla slice. The Indian-Pacific does come through Adelaide, doesn't it?
River, The Ghan leaves from Adelaide going to Darwin, The IP goes from Sydney to Perth and they cross in Alice Springs. It might make a stop in Adders, I've never looked.
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