I hope our English and any of our Northern European members are not being affected or hindered by the Volcanic ash drifting over you from Iceland. Are you noticing any affects with all the "dust" in the air? Maybe some spectacular sunsets? I have heard of a few people who have not been able to fly into or out of Scotland due to the closure of airports. My Aunt and Uncle were meant to be flying into Crete this weekend but can not get out.

There are no flights in or out of the uk at all- this is the third day. The birds have the sky to them selves- no flights allowed military or civillian withthe exception of emergency services, resricted to below 5000 ft. My office mate is suck in portugal- by the beach(poor thing) so I guess i'll be talking to myself this week and another friend is stuck in egypt (oh how the other half live!!! Haven't seen any dust or spectacular sunsets but the weather has been hot!(pretty unusual as it mostly rains Blossom

They're saying in the past, another volcano only 8 kilometers from the one erupting usually erupts a few days later, so it could be getting worse before it gets better.

It's the easter school holidays, and I'm wondering how many kids are going to be missing from school on Monday because they've been on holiday and haven't been able to get back. My husband is currently in Texas and is due to fly back next Sunday. I'm rather hoping the cloud has cleared by then.

Originally posted by Blossom My office mate is suck in portugal- by the beach(poor thing)

I guess as long as I could afford the extra days in a hotel, I'd might be laughing if I had to extend a vacation abroad because all flights back to my home country were grounded (in your office mate's case, I guess she could take trains home but they're probably all crowded full now). I mean, it's a nearly indisputable reason for being unable to return to work! However, in the case of your aunt and uncle, CD, unable to leave for their vacation, that's very unfortunate. I hope they can reschedule their trip soon without too much hassle!

We have some friends that are in Scotland ... I hope they'll be able to return in a few days' time! Apart from having friends or relatives stuck elsewhere, our island was also effected indirectly having some plans being ruined on the occasion of the Pope's short visit to our country. One of our most talented rock music band, who had to take part in the great concert being held right now in the Pope's honour, could not participate because they're stuck in England! That's some bad luck for them, having wanted so much to contribute during this event.

my friend has re-booked a flight for the end of the week!, and sent me a text asking if I can ring and let her boss know she will be a little late back, I get all the good jobs!!!

Tiylaya- who writes fic - was in Scotland for work and her flights got cancelled. She ended up catching a train back - 6 hour trip as opposed to a 2 hour. Apparently the train was so packed, there were people sitting in the corridors!

I have a few co-workers stuck in the UK. Two were in Scotland, one is in England. One of the two stuck in Scotland took a train to England, then took another over to France. I can't even begin to imagine how long that journey took him! The other one in Scotland was supposed to fly home Saturday, and has now been re-booked for Tuesday. She decided to meet up with my third co-worker, who was stuck in England, and they met up with some of our British colleagues. She'll be going back to Edinburgh on Monday to hopefully fly out on Tuesday.

I'd hate to be in the air with all that ash! Who knows what could happen.

It sounds like France, and the Netherlands is it (?), have been sending planes up to test and see what results they get. So far they are announcing things do not seem to be a problem. Maybe flights will begin again and then the airlines will leave it to passengers to decide how "safe" they feel.

The problem with the test flights that no one's reporting is that they've all, or almost all, have been flown below cruising altitude for the commercial airliners (meaning below the 20-30,000ft threshold). Not to get technical, but this is within Visual Flight Rules (VFR), and the commercials fly Instrument Flight Rule (IFR) since they're generally above the VFR airspace (aircraft/pilots are not permitted to fly through clouds unless they're flying IFR. Avoiding clouds would be nearly impossible for a commercial airliner). So, it's interesting to read about the flight tests, but unless the commercials are going to fly their jets at low-altitude, I don't see how this is going to accomplish anything. Personally, i think it's just the airlines trying to prove to the flying public that they're doing "something", even though that "something" is really nothing. Of course I hope aviation gets back to normal soon, but this was just my $.02 on the subject!

Originally posted by Hinotori The problem with the test flights that no one's reporting is that they've all, or almost all, have been flown below cruising altitude for the commercial airliners (meaning below the 20-30,000ft threshold). !

You are correct I had not heard that. I, and probably the general public too, had assumed they were testing at cruising altitudes. Or maybe I need to listen to the news better than I am.

Personally I'd rather stay longer in a place than be a on a flight that crashes due to the ash cloud. Nature doesn't care about commerce...who's going to sue the volcano??? I'm waiting for it to come up in a news report!