The volcanic ash cloud that never was

[ZeitgeistObserver]

The ash cloud that never was: How volcanic plume over UK was only a twentieth of safe-flying limit and blunders led to ban
By David Rose, Matt Sandy and Simon Mcgee
Last updated at 1:24 AM on 25th April 2010

The Mail on Sunday can today reveal the full extent of the shambles behind the great airspace shutdown that cost the airlines £1.3 billion and left 150,000 Britons stranded - all for a supposed volcanic ash cloud that for most of the five-day flights ban was so thin it was invisible.

As the satellite images of the so-called 'aerosol index' published for the first time, right, demonstrate, the sky above Britain was totally clear of ash from Iceland's Eyjafjallajoekull volcano.

All for nothing: Britons like Huw Thomas, stranded in New York, would have been safe to fly home
Inquiries by this newspaper have disclosed that:
• Attempts to measure the ash's density were hampered because the main aircraft used by the Meteorological Office for this purpose had been grounded as it was due to be repainted.
• Computers at the Met Office, which earlier forecast a 'barbecue summer' last year and a mild winter for this year, produced a stream of maps predicting the ash would cover a vast area, eventually stretching from Russia to Newfoundland. But across almost all of it, there was virtually no ash at all, and none visible to satellites.

• Though there was some ash over Britain at times during the ban, the maximum density measured by scientists was only about one twentieth of the limit that scientists, the Government, and aircraft and engine manufacturers have now decided is safe.
'We never understood why a blanket ban had been imposed - something that would not have happened in other parts of the world,' a senior airline executive said yesterday.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1268615/The-ash-cloud-How-volcanic-plume-UK-twentieth-safe-flying-limit-blunders-led-lock-down.html

[WhiteTara]

1. oops. n/t

[ZeitgeistObserver]

3. Better safe than sorry, but there is also

overkill. :)

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

2. Typical Daily Mail nonsense.

Yeah, it's all the EU and the UN's fault. Oh, and Labour. If we just did away with all of that none of this would have ever happened.

[Puzzler]

4. And if a plane had crashed... what then Daily Mail? What then?

I can imagine the screaming banner headlines from that rag, demanding to know why the government (or governments) did not do something to stop the planes from flying. You know, just like their diatribes demanding tough government action on crime, etc. F**king hypocrites.

[KonaKane]

5. I prefer not to take chances with peoples' lives.

And quite frankly, amazed at the cheek of those who do.

[Bobbieo]

6. YEP!! - nt

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

7. British newspapers are worse than ours

They criticize anyone and everyone, no matter what they do.

[Turborama]

16. Most of Britain's main newspapers are "conservative in a way that make Faux look like Air America"

From Comedy Central's Indecision Internationale:



Most of the main newspapers in Britain are conservative ones — and conservative in the way that make Fox News look like Air America. And, today, all the front pages of all these newspapers, selling millions of copies across the country, have been going to war with Nick Clegg. Waking up to them, his wife might as well have tipped his breakfast in bed over his head (including the scalding coffee) as hand him the papers.

=snip=

Those amusing headlines that The Daily Show uses? Business as usual for the front pages of UK newspapers.

Full piece: http://www.indecisionforever.com/2010/04/22/indecision-internationale-2010-taking-a-dump-on-nick-clegg

Also posted here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x458289#458377

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

21. They basically openly dismiss Clegg as a radical and an idiot

Even Ron Paul and Ralph Nader get a modicum of respect from our press.

[ZeitgeistObserver]

8. And in the US:

And a CAA spokesman confirmed that in the US and elsewhere, the ICAO zerotolerance policy is simply ignored. 'It's not a rule but a guideline,' he said.

In the US, he added, the authorities do not close airspace after eruptions but leave it to the judgment of pilots and airlines where and when to fly, on the basis of ash forecasts.

[hobbit709]

9. When in danger or in doubt, run in circles scream and shout.

[ZeitgeistObserver]

10. People afraid of their own shadows anymore. n/t

[Odin2005]

11. the Daily Hate Mail isn't a legit news source.

[ZeitgeistObserver]

12. It always is when people agree with it.

But you can look it up in other papers if you like.

[SidDithers]

13. Why do people post crap from the Daily Fail?...nt

Sid

[ZeitgeistObserver]

14. So read the Times and the Telegraph if you prefer.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/7628814/Volcano-crisis-Sense-vanishes-in-a-puff-of-ash.html

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/weather/article7107262.ece

[Turborama]

18. Why would anyone who obviously sees the Mail for what it is prefer to read its sister papers? n/t

[ZeitgeistObserver]

19. You are confusing your newspapers.

The Daily Mail is a tabloid, it just has better photos...the Times is well-respected.

If you prefer other UK papers, feel free to google them, but the result will be the same. There never was any danger.

[Turborama]

20. No I'm not

The Mail and Telegraph is an unapologetic hardcore Conservative tabloid aimed at the lowest common denominator who can understand longer words than Sun readers & The Torygraph is a Conservative unapologetic hardcore Conservative broadsheet. The Times is Murdoch's attempt to reach the broadsheet reading market, it's a broadsheet version of The Sun. Think of Murdoch's Times as his British version of The Wall Street Journal, as it is now.

With regards to UK newspapers read by Liberals.

Nothing in The Independent http://www.independent.co.uk/

Look at the difference between the way this story is being reported in The Guardian and the papers you cite:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/25/volcanic-ash-air-industry-warned

If you can't see the difference then you have a lot to learn about Conservative propaganda techniques.

[RandomThoughts]

15. Did anyone make money off of the airline down time?

I did see two interesting things. While there was all the talk about the ash cloud.

A news reporter was reporting from Iceland, he said, I am standing on the side of the volcano and I see no ash, 1000 feet from the crater. Then he paused, and said, because the wind is blowing the other direction. And there is no ash on this side. It sounded oddd.

Then later that day, I heard a weather reporter talking about the ash cloud, and he added, that he would not lie, why would he lie about something like that.



At the time of the early reports, I was wondering if it was a story for some other reason, or if someone was trying to make it sound like a story for some other reason.

I do have to say, I saw some odd coverage of that event.

[ZeitgeistObserver]

17. Not that I know of.

Unless you count trains, hotels and the odd taxi. Yeah, it was an odd event.

[daleo]

22. If the ash increased the odds of a plane crash by a factor of ten

It would still take a month or two for the odds to catch up with us. So I think it is premature for the tabloids to gloat.

[marmar]

23. The Daily Mail again proving it's not worthy to be birdcage liner.

nt