Volcanic Ash To Close London's Heathrow Airport

Yahoo/AP ^ | 5-16-2010 | JENNIFER QUINN

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Volcanic Ash To Close London's Heathrow Airport

By JENNIFER QUINN, Associated Press Writer

LONDON – Europe's busiest airport was set to close early Monday morning as a dense crowd of volcanic ash drifts across England from Iceland, aviation authorities said.

The airspace over London's Heathrow Airport will be closed at 1 a.m. Monday (0000 GMT; 7 p.m. EDT), Britain's National Air Traffic Service said in a statement late Sunday night.

The restrictions affecting Heathrow — as well as Gatwick, Stansted, and London City airports — will be in place until at least 7 a.m. Monday, the aviation authority said.

Airports across Britain and Ireland were closed for much of Sunday because of the drifting ash. The shifting of the no-fly zone southward will allow airports in northern England — including the key cities of Manchester and Liverpool — to reopen after 1 a.m.

But all airports in Northern Ireland, as well as some Scottish facilities, will remain shut.

In Ireland, Dublin's international airport closed early Sunday evening until at least 12 p.m. Monday (1100 GMT, 7 a.m. EDT). Some airports in Ireland's west were closed and will reopen at different times Monday, but Shannon and southern Cork were open "until further notice."

The British air traffic agency said the ash cloud was changing shape and moving south, toward Oxford, England, 60 miles (100 kilometers) northwest of London. Britain's weather service says the northwest winds should shift midweek, redirecting the ash away from Britain.

German authorities sent up two test flights Sunday to measure the ash cloud, one from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the other from Lufthansa, the country's biggest airline.

The DLR plane flew to southern England then continued north, collecting data from between 10,000 to 23,000 feet (3,000 to 7,000 meters).

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[combat_boots]

I had no idea Harry was such a smart ash.

[little jeremiah]

I’ve been trying to find out about Amsterdam - got someone flying out of Amsterdam Tuesday AM. If you find out anything and post a thread or comment about it, would you mind pinging me? Thanks!

Do you ever look at this site - it’s a pilot’s site, been haunting it; link to there very long Ash thread:

http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/412103-ash-clouds-threaten-air-traffic-144.html

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Iceland Volcano Ash Strands San Francisco Passengers

April 15, 1:41 PMSF
Top News Examiner Sheila OConnor

One flight is four hours into its flight out of San Francisco and has to turn back.

San Francisco, Ca. -- As flights around the northern hemisphere are being disrupted or cancelled because of the billows of volcanic ash from Iceland being swept over Europe and the UK, what is happening locally at San Francisco International airport?

Passengers are being stranded. And they don't like it.

So far in the Bay Area, five departing flights to Europe have already been cancelled. These were four flights headed to London and one flight headed to Frankfurt in Germany.

Elspeth Gow, a head teacher at a Scottish school was interviewed at SFO airport earlier this afternoon, as she was trying to catch a flight back to Scotland.

"There's not much we can do," she told KTVU news, as she resigned herself to staying longer in the Bay Area.

She had been told by the airlines that the flights were cancelled due to volcanic ash from the Iceland volcano which has now gone up 5 miles into the atmosphere and is spreading over the UK and Europe.

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[blam]

Thanks. Will do.

[Izzy Dunne]

as a dense crowd of volcanic ash drifts across England from Iceland

Proofreader wanted; inquire within.

[little jeremiah]

Thanks. I’ve already been searching for freighters that take some passengers and it’s very hard to get solid info from them plus the air ticket’s paid for already...

As long as he gets back before Katla erupts!

[DuncanWaring]

It’s by no means the final word, but the accompanying illustration suggests Amsterdam will be closing Monday morning.

[little jeremiah]

I know....sheesh. I’m nervous as a cat.

[little jeremiah]

Have you seen this Iceland based eruption site? They don’t have pretty photos other than the two that are just always there but they have basic updates every day:

http://www2.norvol.hi.is/page/ies_Eyjafjallajokull_eruption

[blam]

'Nervous as a cat with a long tail in room with rocking chairs'

[blam]

Thanks.

That may be more info than this crowd wants.

[celtic gal]

Yesterday, the volcano was spewing boulders the size of cars out the top. It was an amazing thing to see. We saw it onTV here. There is great concern now over Katla which is an even meaner volcano and as recorded history has shown, she goes when EFJ ( which means island mountain glacier) has gone off.

[combat_boots]

Now, now. The writer must have learned English from a speaker of Oriental languages.

[PapaBear3625]

She had been told by the airlines that the flights were cancelled due to volcanic ash from the Iceland volcano which has now gone up 5 miles into the atmosphere and is spreading over the UK and Europe.

Five miles up is around the level of the polar jet stream, which will tend to spread ash all through the northern hemisphere's upper atmosphere. This may effect summer weather a bit.

[Malsua]

Ugh. Flying into Frankfurt from Newark tomorrow. Hopefully they’ll just skirt south.

[little jeremiah]

Yup.

[erikm88]

Why don’t we hear the environazis screaming and fretting about the “pollution” coming out of the volcano, it’s just as natural as oil. Oh wait, there’s no human involvement... I get it, the world can’t exist unless all humans (besides the enviro-liberal-elitists) are eliminated.

[DukeBillie]

My husband left today on a direct flight Seattle-Amsterdam. His flight has been diverted to Frankfurt, Germany. He goes to Italy every month on business. Last month he was delayed 5 days returning because of the volcano.