Expect some flight disruptions tomorrow.....

[La Guerriere]

Lordy lordy, last time was somewhere in the Gulf of Suez and year or two back, but there they are about twenty years behind the times ... fortunately I am now retired ... good luck

[AnOther]

Ah, I see, lucky you !

[powerdesal]

[quote user="pachapapa"]Finnish Air Force have some pictures of damage to F-18 with Hornet rams.[/quote]

 

What are "Hornet rams"????????

[La Guerriere]

Very large black and yellow striped sheep ?

[AnOther]

Choppers are back on as the situation takes a turn to the Kafkesque !

The word coming back now is that in the course of their discussions with Sikorsky it emerged that the recommended flight operational limits which they had been working to, and on which they had based their decisions not to fly, were not actually the current ones and according to those there was never any reason to ground them at all !

Speechless [blink]

I sense a whiff of expensive legal ramifications for the operators if this all turns out to have been the case.

[pachapapa]

[quote user="La Guerriere"]Very large black and yellow striped sheep ?[/quote]

Ingested in Jet Engines...Serious Damage![:)]

[Théière]

[quote user="AnOther"]

Speechless [blink]

I sense a whiff of expensive legal ramifications for the operators if this all turns out to have been the case.

[/quote]

Well that nice Mr O'leary is going to give everyone their money back.

http://www.salon.com/wires/allwires/2010/04/22/D9F84A380_eu_ireland_ryanair_volcano_losses/index.html

[Chancer]

Not the money that the passengers had paid but that of his company and ultimately that of the shareholders/future fare paying passengers, if only he were able to limi his liability to the fares that they had paid like ferries and train operators.

I often wonder how much we all are paying for the actions of the insurance companies and the "I must be able to sue someone as it cant possibly be my responsibility" culture.

I guess that you are paying a price at the moment Ernie that cannot be measured or compensated for in monetary terms.

[powerdesal]

[quote user="pachapapa"]

[quote user="La Guerriere"]Very large black and yellow striped sheep ?[/quote]

Ingested in Jet Engines...Serious Damage![:)]

[/quote]

 

Very tall sheep or very low flying aircraft.   I still don't know what they really are though.

[La Guerriere]

I suspect some possible mis-translation. See:

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/04/16/340727/pictures-finnish-f-18-engine-check-reveals-effects-of-volcanic.html

No sign of any sheep, low-flying or otherwise

[RicandJo]

F18 = ramjet engine.........

[AnOther]

Finally made first base and  currently installed in a hotel at Aberdeen airport ready for the red eye on the morrow.

Note to the volcano: Any time you like after tomorrow, preferably around about May 9th or 10th please [;-)]

[Gardian]

[quote user="Gardian"]

Have been in constant touch with friends who have been holidaying in Egypt: were due to fly back from Sharm el Sheikh last Friday.

Their tour operator has apparently been excellent - they were put in to a decent hotel. Others not so lucky: lilos at the airport.

Just heard that they are on a flight very early this morning to (somewhere in) Spain, then coach to the UK. Not great, but better than nothing.

They were due here for a long weekend in a few weeks time: I think that they'll be cancelling!!

[/quote]

Flight to Madrid happened, overnight in a hotel there. Following day (Weds), coach embarkation for Calais (15 hrs) - pretty chaotic.

Then (literally at the last minute), "We think we can get a plane". Offloaded.  Hours delay, but back in the UK late evening.

They were fortunate.

[powerdesal]

[quote user="RicandJo"]F18 = ramjet engine.........[/quote]

Not so.

The F18 uses a GE turbofan with afterburner, ie pretty conventional, certainly not ramjet.

[pachapapa]

[quote user="powerdesal"]

[quote user="RicandJo"]F18 = ramjet engine.........[/quote]

Not so.

The F18 uses a GE turbofan with afterburner, ie pretty conventional, certainly not ramjet.

[/quote]

But even so, such conventionality would still put it 3 football fields way from inferential damage comparison with a pretty conventional Airbus 380.###### I don't really get the comparison of fighter jet engines being damaged to passenger jet engines. The two engines are totally different. Fast jets use low bypass engines whereby 80% of the air sucked in by the intake goes through the core of the engine.######

[La Guerriere]

I'm not so sure about this. The modern commercial engine has high bypass by basically having a very large compressor stage and zooming most of it straight past. You still have much the same sort of core turbine stage. I suspect it all depends on clearances in the turbine stage and working temperatures and pressures.

[pachapapa]

The fusion of the volcanic ash would presumably be more pronounced in a GE engine than a Tupolev or Ilyushin operating at lower temperatures. Sorry cant find the image in english only french. PC with french OP.[:)]

[IMG]http://blog.avionslegendaires.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/avion-cendre-volcan-islande.jpg[/IMG]

[Gardengirl]

Hope all went well with the revised (again!) travel arrangements, AnOther.

Our friend set off from the Gard at 0400 on Thursday, shared driving with his daughter (who had been stranded at their place with her children), and caught an afternoon shuttle. He had supper with us, slept at son's house (long story!), breakfasted with us, and we set off with him and my OH sharing the driving. After an overnight stop and meal at usual hotel, we arrived at Nimes airport around 4pm. 2 flat tyres on our car then had to be dealt with. [:(]We've never had one on that car, and 2 together - not nice! It's lovely to be back in France, and no talk of General Election around us. [:)]

[AnOther]

Hi, yes I made it into Toulouse bang on time on Friday morning.

Mind you it ended up costing me money. Normally I get in at 22:30/23:00 so it's just a sprint home up the peage however this time it was a shopping opportunity and I arrived at home a few hundred € poorer with a gas barbecue and a few other bits and bobs in the car !

Glad your friend made it eventually but I still struggling to understand how people can still be stranded in placed like Lanzarote (my brother and family) 6 days after their due date and with no possibility of a flight out until the 29th, someone is not really putting the best effort in and no, it's not RA, they are with Monarch.

[Pickles]

[quote user="AnOther"]Glad your friend made it eventually but I still struggling to understand how people can still be stranded in placed like Lanzarote (my brother and family) 6 days after their due date and with no possibility of a flight out until the 29th, someone is not really putting the best effort in and no, it's not RA, they are with Monarch.[/quote]

Ah, Monarch.

Our refugees were supposed to be flying with Monarch out of Barcelona a week last Friday. Monarch mucked them about a lot. Room prices went sky high in Barcelona - which rapidly became full. They went to the bus station on Saturday and the first tickets they could get were to Perpignan on Monday; we collected them from there. There were lots of people trying to get to the UK by any means: some had hitched to get over the border and then caught French service buses. On Tuesday we got them tickets with Ryanair from Nimes to Liverpool leaving yesterday, which were the first available. Even so, the ticket price was €30 + taxes each. Plane left on time, no problems.

Monarch are STILL mucking people about...

Regards

Pickles

[Gardengirl]

Pickles, glad to hear your visitors' flight went off OK, after their extended holiday. So many people are still stranded, with nothing promised until into May.

That's why our friend decided to drive family back to UK, which is where we were so fortunate with our lift back. As it turned out, we could have flown on Friday with Ryanair, on the latest postponement we had with them. But as our friend had so kindly offered a lift we stayed with that, as it meant he would have a co-driver for the trip back. The Gard to Berkshire with other calls on the way and back again all in 3 days at 70 years of age isn't bad going for him! [:)]

[andyh4]

[quote user="AnOther"]
 I still struggling to understand how people can still be stranded in placed like Lanzarote (my brother and family) 6 days after their due date and with no possibility of a flight out until the 29th, someone is not really putting the best effort in and no, it's not RA, they are with Monarch.


[/quote]

 

Glad you made it Ernie.

 

Monarch are probably flying with 90+% capacity which leaves very few spare seats on the plane to fill up with those who should have flown on last weeks 90+% full plane.

Their options are:

put on extra planes - they probably don't have them or thhe crew

sub charter with someone else

Fly back those who should have returned last week and leave stranded those who should be returning this.

Fly back those who should be flying now and fill up with anyone stranded from last week.

[Pickles]

[quote user="andyh4"]Monarch are probably flying with 90+% capacity which leaves very few spare seats on the plane to fill up with those who should have flown on last weeks 90+% full plane.

Their options are:

put on extra planes - they probably don't have them or thhe crew

sub charter with someone else

Fly back those who should have returned last week and leave stranded those who should be returning this.

Fly back those who should be flying now and fill up with anyone stranded from last week.[/quote]

Agreed. They have a logistical problem. However, they are failing to communicate with their customers, making it very difficult for their customers to get through to them (even travel agents have had major problems with Monarch), and have left them not knowing what is going on and leaving them fending for themselves and facing monetary problems. That's a different issue.

Regards

Pickles

[Russethouse]

 My sisters friends won't be back from Japan until next week, extending their 3 week break to nearly 5 weeks. BA are giving them £150 a day to accomodate and feed themselves

[Gardian]

Heard this tale yesterday from a friend in the UK (I think it's a true story).

The couple he knows were on a Saga cruise to the Med. It was his 80th birthday when the ship docked at Malta.  Surprise, surprise, son + dil + grandchildren turn up from the UK for a celebration. Nice evening had by one & all.

Ship sails the following morning, headed for the UK.  

You've guessed. The rest of the family, having travelled with the absolute minimum of kit for just an overnight stay, got back 3 days after the ship!