Volcanic ash cloud - UK shutdown begins

[tarbat]

LOGANAIR PRESS RELEASE

For tomorrow, Tuesday 24 May, the volcanic ash forecasts issued by the Met Office this afternoon indicate that a high density of ash will be present in large parts of Scottish airspace.

As a result of this, we have taken the decision to cancel all services with the exception of our inter-isles flights in Orkney.  All flights due to depart between 06:00 and 13:00 hrs tomorrow have therefore been cancelled.

Volcanic Ash Advisories at http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/aviation/vaac/vaacuk_vag.html

[johnboy]

Here we go again.

[Aerotower]

Best for me, it may take more planes and unique: D

[bratters]

Let's hope it's not as disruptive as last time though it promises to be a touch quiet for Tarbat and his mates beyond the wall.

On a personal note I flew in to UK yesterday evening and am not due out again for a couple of weeks.  Lucky boy methinks.

[tarbat]

On top of everything, we lost power for a couple of hours, and the telephone network was down as well.  And 100mph winds.  What happened to spring!!

[tarbat]

Let's hope it's not as disruptive as last time though it promises to be a touch quiet for Tarbat and his mates beyond the wall.

:( In the "lawless lands" north of the Wall:



Thankfully the ships are still active :)

[smcm]

Kirkwall (EGPA) Tower reporting visibility 4000m in rain shower and volcanic ash and difficult to see out the tower windows!

Met office reporting "Medium" concentration of ash but local ATC reckon "High"

Loganair Islander, LOG 322, en route from Westray to Kirkwall is still airborne but monitoring weather updates.

[smcm]

Latest ATC met report, now 2500m visibility in rain and ash with ash concentration "Medium"

[orkney]

Hello

The windows and cars etc are covered with ashes here as well. I went along the clothes line with the toilet roll this time as well and would say it is the amount on it is the same if not more than Eyjafjallajökull.

Andrew

[smcm]

Same here, Andrew.  Lots of ash in the last few showers and windows completely covered now - seems like more than last time.

Looks like the Orkney inter-island service is on hold now but tracking Icelandair 520 coming down from the north at 37000 ft

[orkney]

Hello

ICE502 is following now as well. I am also seeing on the network DLH454 that normally comes over Shetland is going straight up over Norway.

Andrew

[tarbat]

And BAW9271 seems to be in a hold at FL280 above Aberdeen.

[smcm]

Didn't renew network subscription after it expired and also antenna is inside loft space now so range reduced a bit - have decided to concentrate more on improving my AIS system.

Lost a bit of interest in RadarBox since AirNav still can't seem to link the Loganair/Flybe routing info to the Flight Id which is quite an important feature up here - particularly as it used to work fine.

[tarbat]

Half an hour later, and BAW9271 is still circling above Aberdeen.  I can only guess that either they can't land at Glasgow, or BA don't want their plane stranded at Glasgow and are considering landing somewhere else.

Although BA have also said that "As a precaution we will not operate any flights between London and Scotland on Tuesday May 24 that arrive in Scotland before 2pm or depart from Scotland before 2pm."

So, maybe this is a testing flight?

EDIT: They have enough endurance for another hour and a half, awaiting permission to descend into the danger zone.

[tarbat]

Test flight over by the looks of it.   BAW9271 (G-EUUH) now heading back south.