British Airways send flights to UK with HOPE of landing...

[brooklynite]

from CNN:

London, England (CNN) -- More than two dozen British Airways flights have taken off for London, hoping to be able to land despite restrictions on English airspace because of ash from a volcano in Iceland.

...snip...

The airline hopes for a window of opportunity to land the planes at Heathrow or Gatwick airports, a company representative told CNN.

If the planes do touch down in London early Wednesday, they will be the first commercial airliners to do so since Thursday afternoon local time, according to BAA, the company that runs Heathrow.

If the planes cannot land in London, they will be sent to other destinations, the airline said.

Talk about pressing the Government to take action...

[dipsydoodle]

1. It may well be

that the pilots recall the hole in the ground that Pan Am Flight 103 made in Lockerbie. I certainly do and if anyone has forgotten then search google images. And that a plane hitting the ground in parts - not one whole body. Also for the benefit of those who don't know the main flight path to LHR is up the Thames above central London.

[Warpy]

2. They can divert to Madrid

I read a story earlier of Spanish airports beefing up the local transit and calling in workers so that international flights can use their facilities to get stranded travelers in and out.

That might turn out to be a pretty standard pattern until the volcano decides to quiet down for another two hundred years.

[JuniperLea]

3. We should buy stock in cruise lines...

This is very unsettling.

[ZeitgeistObserver]

4. London will be open tomorrow,

but planes are landing elsewhere in the UK as we speak.

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. Just opened now - the CNN story has just been updated

to say a BA plane from Vancouver has landed at Heathrow. The Civil Aviation Authority decided to change the tolerance levels:

The Met Office acknowledges the decision by CAA to change the engine tolerance levels for the safe levels of ash ingestion into aircraft engines.

The Met Office is the north-west European Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre with responsibility for issuing the Volcanic Ash Advisories for this area in line with internationally agreed standards and processes as designated by the aviation regulator and industry.

We will now provide timely advice to NATS about the dispersion of the volcanic ash in line with the new engine tolerance criteria.

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/corporate/pressoffice/2010/volcano.html