Icelandic volcano disrupts global air travel‎ Monday, December 13, 2010

www.timesofearth.com LONDON — Thousands of people have been stranded at airports around the world after a cloud of ashes from an Icelandic volcano eruption spread over Europe. Europe's air-traffic control centre predicted 17000 flights would be cancelled on Friday and several countries have completely closed their air space. Experts cautioned the fallout from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in southeast Iceland could take several days to clear and aviation authorities refused to say when the skies would clear again. All of Europe's three biggest airports - London Heathrow, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Frankfurt - were closed by the ash, which is a threat to jet engines and pilot visibility. Poland, Britain, Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Belgium and the Netherlands shut down all or most of their airspace. Finland, France, Germany, Russia and Spain experienced major disruption, although Sweden and Norway have began to reopen airspace. As the giant no-fly zone grew, Poland said it may delay Sunday's funeral of Lech Kaczynski, the Polish president who was killed in an air crash along with 95 others last week. Several world leaders are expected to attend the event and the cloud could prevent them from travelling to the city of Krakow. Volcanoes are a much-feared peril in civil aviation, disgorging fine ash that can damage jet engines, clog fuel systems and drastically reduce visibility. The cloud is drifting 6000-11000 metres up in the air and ...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6w7mE7aAnY&hl=en