I have said it from the start. NATS over reacted much to quickly. Fair enough, at the start they knew little about it and what the risk could be. This should have only of been a very temporary measure while tests were carried out, airspace corridors set up and a lot of flights resumed. They would have been able to navigate planes through ash free areas or below the height of it quite easily.
Now..These 'no fly' rules didn't stop me taking to the skies over the weekend and much general aviation continued. With the exception of the military gliding/flying squadrons. Note: gliders do not have engines that may stop, military gliders are not cleared above 8,000ft. The ash was higher than 8,000ft. The argument was that ash could get in the instrument systems. Now...the rest of the year the same risks are there. Bugs are the worst and there are all sorts of dust an debris! haha..my ship was dustier from being in the hangar than sitting outside!
Btw...we didnt break no rules by flying since we are not in 'proper' airspace. All of the 'proper' airspace was actually deregulated to the airspace we use and would have allowed us to fly over london, big ben, anywhere we had liked without any radio licence.
The whole of aviation has over reacted. If there was a serious risk then the airspace would not have opened last night. And imo, without the pressure BA applied it would have continued. They knew it was ok...I think that they knew they over reacted and were playing the situation up so they didn't look like idiots. As soon as BA put the pressure on they knew it would be worse....People are annoyed, would take much for BA to make NATS/met office and CAA look like a bunch of monkeys..
I just hope a repeat of this never happens again (unless it is an epic gliding day - in which case big ben here we come) First glider to land at heathrow??
Also, in terms of dirty cars. remember how dry it has been
