ASH NOT AFFECTING NATO?

"Some wonder whether there is something else going on under the cover of earthquake eruptions, such as a test run to shut down air travel internationally."

In April 2010, NATO airforces are taking part in Exercise BRILLIANT ARDENT 10. (http://www.usafe.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123199666)

The large scale NATO Response Force Air Live Exercise hosted by Germany began April 12 and will run through April 22. (arthurzbygniew.blogspot/)

So, they have cleared the air of civil aircraft?

"NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on 19 April 2010 that the ash cloud was not affecting the alliance's military readiness." (Iceland eruption )

On 20 April 2010, The Mail reported that 40 test flights across Europe found NO evidence of ash in jet engines, windows or lubrication systems. (Iceland volcano eruption: Met Office criticised. )

Matthias Ruete, the European Commission's director general of transport, said air traffic authorities should not have imposed a widespread ban on flights.

Iceland has had fairly frequent volcanic eruptions and sometimes they have gone on for many months.

None of the previous eruptions has affected international air travel in the same way as the April 2010 eruption.

As the Telegraph points out today, "Volcanoes have pumped ash plumes of this size and bigger into the atmosphere many times in the past without turning an entire continent into a no-fly zone."

Volcanic erruptions are fairly frequent in Indonesia.

In 1982, over Indonesia, a British Airways Jumbo lost power to all its engines after passing through a volcano ash plume.

It did regain power and landed safely.

19 days later, a Singapore Airlines 747 lost power to its engines because of the ash plume. The plane survived.



arthurzbygniew.blogspot/ drew our attention to an article at rense, (rense.com) by F. William Engdahl.

Among the points made:

1. Since the eruption of the Eyjafjallajoekull volcano in Iceland on April 14 air traffic across Europe had been grounded.

2. Joachim Hunold, CEO of Germany's second largest carrier, Air Berlin, stated in Bild am Sonntag, "not one single weather ballon has been put up in Germany to measure if and how much volcanic ash there is in the air. The closing of the airspace is entirely based on the results of a computer simulation at the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC) in England."

3. Veteran Air France pilot, Steven Savignol, said: "I can tell you from my own experience that with blue skies, aircrafts can fly perfectly and very safely. They made test flights with Air France, KLM, Lufthansa and of course, all is ok!"

4. The VAAC in England is working from a "computer simulation," and has not even conducted an actual sky ash measurement.

The agency responsible for Volcanic Ash measurement for the region, including Iceland, is Britain's "Met Office," the UK's National Weather Service, which in turn is a Trading Fund within the Ministry of Defence, operating on a commercial basis under set targets according to their website.

5. The current eruption is a relatively minor one.

6. Modern jet aircraft engines are robust, says Air France's Savignol.

They have to face not only the hazards of bird strikes, but rain, hail and even salt spray on take-off from coastal airports. Furthermore, sand is a common hazard from dust storms and from desert airfields.

7. The blanket ban under clear blue skies and glorious sunshine across Europe is making some wonder whether there is something else going on under the cover of earthquake eruptions, such as a test run to shut down air travel internationally.

Since no one has ever been injured from an aircraft disabled by a volcanic eruption, it is a question that lingers.

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