The ash cloud from the Iceland volcano has revealed the weakness and instability of international air travel--and the governments that both support and regulate it
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To be fair there has been some effort to plan for these events. The VAAC was set up in the 90's.
The airspace was closed by the respective governments, several of the carriers have at least said they would like to fly but can't because of the shut down (though even if they could they probably would because of insurance and cost concerns).
The truth is that these sort of events are so rare that it's not really worth the time and effort to set up plans to deal with it.
I really shocked watching the trouble and harassment of passengers. The loss if form the both side,the passengers as well as the AIRLINES Companies. DIRECT TV brought me all the updates of the incident.
The airlines want the attention to be all on them for the money they're losing....but it's the passengers who are really suffering, immediately and personally. The treatment of air passengers, especially in international flights, is already inhumane...being jammed into airports without resources and under the constant bullying of security personnel (and airline personnel who have less patience than they want passengers to show) is far more than "inconvenience."
The inability/unwillingness of humans to take seriously the infrequent but serious predictable threat has killed a lot of people in large groups. Pompeii and Herculaneum being early examples. That volcanoes will erupt is certain. When they will erupt is uncertain. Assuming that any volcano won't erupt again and if it does it won't bother humans is...stupid.
I have lung damage from a volcano in Mexico that put ash in the air in central Texas...barely seen, but enough when breathed in deep by someone spending several hours outside in vigorous activity to cause some damage. I had paid no attention to that volcano, many hundreds of miles away. Wasn't my problem, I thought. Well, it is now. I was stupid then, but I didn't have to stay stupid.
The airspace was closed by the respective governments, several of the carriers have at least said they would like to fly but can't because of the shut down (though even if they could they probably would because of insurance and cost concerns).
The truth is that these sort of events are so rare that it's not really worth the time and effort to set up plans to deal with it.
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I have lung damage from a volcano in Mexico that put ash in the air in central Texas...barely seen, but enough when breathed in deep by someone spending several hours outside in vigorous activity to cause some damage. I had paid no attention to that volcano, many hundreds of miles away. Wasn't my problem, I thought. Well, it is now. I was stupid then, but I didn't have to stay stupid.
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