The UK’s lead story today is the fact that UK airspace has been closed.
Volcanic action in Iceland has resulted in a clould of volcanic ash moving towards the UK. The authorities have closed UK airspace, as the ash can use a serious hazard to aircraft engines.
We’ve had lots of fun watching planes landing and leaving the UK, thanks to the website FlightRadar24. This site can track the movement of aircraft that are equipped with ADS-B (Automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast).
Here’s a picture of the aircraft in Europe captured at 1245 on 15th April 2010, showing almost nothing over the UK, but a very busy Europe.
If you’re at a loose end, have a look at this site that cleverly overlays aircraft with the ADS-B beacon onto Google Maps – although it’ll be a little quiet of the UK for the rest of the day!
You can click on a plane to see altitude and air speed, and if you zoom in, you can watch planes land and the alt drop to zero. Check out the impressive site at www.flightradar24.com
Love it!
Luton airport is really quiet today…
We had business visitors fly into London City Airport this morning (09:10) from Rotterdam and it looks like that was one of the last flights in today. After business discussions we tried to find alternative transport accross to Rotterdam (inc. Ferry from Harwich) but every option has been fully booked.
Hotels are fully booked around all UK airports!
We now hope and pray things go back to normal tomorrow although there will be travel delays galore!