Ash from Iceland’s Grimsvötn volcano could affect Heathrow by the end of the weekThis article titled “Ash cloud moves towards UK airspace” was written by Dan Milmo and Adam Gabbatt, for guardian.co.uk on Monday 23rd May 2011 10.04 UTCAirlines and airports have been warned to expect ash from an erupting Icelandic volcano to arrive in UK airspace by Tuesday, with the possibility that it could affect Heathrow airport by the end of the week.The safety watchdog for British airlines and airports, the Civil Aviation Authority, said today that particles from the Grimsvötn volcano could reach Scotland by midnight tonight and western England by Thursday or Friday, depending on wind direction.If airspace in western England, Ireland and the Atlantic is affected by the smoke plume transatlantic flights in and out of Heathrow could suffer delays later this week as planes are diverted around the most dense parts of the cloud.However, the Civil Aviation Authority said it was confident that a new Europe-wide safety regime introduced after the Eyjafjallajökull eruption last year would reduce disruption significantly and avoid the continental shutdown that stranded millions. Under the new operating procedures, it is understood that the effect of last year’s plume on commercial routes would have been 75% smaller.Nonetheless, some disruption is expected as airplanes divert around the heaviest parts of the cloud. According to the latest forecasts, Inverness and Aberdeen are the most likely airports to suffer disruption tomorrow, although the most accurate estimates can only predict six hours ahead.“Our number one priority is to ensure the safety of people both on board aircraft and on the ground. We can’t rule out disruption, but the new arrangements that have been put in place since last year’s ash cloud mean the aviation sector is better prepared and will help to reduce any disruption in the event that volcanic ash affects UK airspace,” said Andrew Haines, CAA chief executive.Under previous guidelines, aircraft were summarily grounded if there was any volcanic ash in the air. Now, airlines can fly through ash plumes if they can demonstrate that their fleets can handle medium or high-level densities of ash.The Met Office’s volcanic ash advisory centre will identify the density and location of the cloud, aided by satellite images, weather balloons and a radar specially installed for monitoring purposes in Iceland last year. Once those zones are relayed to airlines, they will need to prove that they can fly through them by producing “safety cases” that will include information from aircraft and engine manufacturers on the airline’s tolerance to volcanic ash.A CAA spokesman said all major UK airlines already had safety preparations for medium-density ash clouds.“We are in a much better position than last time,” he said. “Safety will still be paramount but we will be able to drastically reduce disruption compared to last time, provided there is not a huge amount of high-density ash.” The spokesman said a similar level of ash to the Eyjafjallajökull incident would not result in a mass-grounding. “It will be a different picture.” However, jets will have to divert around high-density clouds, causing delays on some routes, because no UK airline has submitted a safety case for flying through heavy ash plumes.BAA, the owner of Heathrow, Stansted, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen airports, has convened a crisis support team to prepare for a reduction in flights, as airlines and airports await a further briefing from Eurocontrol and the UK air traffic controller, Nats. “We are working closely with the CAA and Nats in preparing contingency plans if ash enters UK airspace,” it said.Under the new ash guidelines, cloud densities are split into three levels: low, medium and high. Once the Met Office assigns a particular density of ash to a section of airspace, airlines must prove they have the safety case to fly through it. A low density cloud is 2g of ash per 10 cubic metres of air, with medium being 2g to 4g of ash per 10 cubic metres. Anything above 4g is deemed high density.The Grimsvötn volcano began erupting on Sunday, causing flights to be cancelled at Iceland’s main Keflavik airport after it sent a plume of ash, smoke and steam 12 miles into the air. Experts have said the eruption was unlikely to have the dramatic impact that the Eyjafjallajökull volcano had in April 2010.“At the moment if the volcano continues to erupt to the same level it has been, and is now, the UK could be at risk of seeing volcanic ash later this week,” said Helen Chivers, a Met Office spokeswoman. “Quite when and how much we can’t really define at the moment.”She said the weather situation was likely to be different from last year, with the wind direction set to change continuously. She added: “If it moves in the way that we’re currently looking, with the eruption continuing the way it is, then if the UK is at risk later this week, then France and Spain could be as well.”While the ash has grounded aircraft in Iceland, it is not anticipated that it will have a similar impact in the rest of Europe.Dr Dave McGarvie, volcanologist at the Open University, said the amount of ash reaching the UK was “likely to be less than in the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption”, and the last two times Grimsvötn erupted it had not affected UK air travel.“In addition, the experience gained from the 2010 eruption, especially by the Met Office, the airline industry, and the engine manufacturers, should mean less disruption to travellers,” he said.The eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in south-east Iceland in April 2010 caused the worst disruption to international air travel since 9/11. Flights across Europe were cancelled for six days, stranding tens of thousands of people, and the eruption was estimated to have cost airlines £130m a day.Eurocontrol said in a statement: “There is currently no impact on European or transatlantic flights and the situation is expected to remain so for the next 24 hours. Aircraft operators are constantly being kept informed of the evolving situation.” guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010Published via the Guardian News Feed plugin for WordPress.Thanks for subscribing to Andy Roberts blogAsh cloud moves towards UK airspaceRelated posts:How to pronounce EyjafjallajoekullAsh Grounds Planes, Rest Of World Cut OffTag Cloud
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Ash cloud moves towards UK airspace
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/05/23/ash-cloud-moves-towards-uk-airspace
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May 23 2011, 4:09pm | Comments »
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Flybe profit warning sends share price crashing down
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/05/05/flybe-profit-warning-sends-share-price-crashing-down
Flybe shares drop 25% as airline admits cash-strapped consumers are cutting back on air travel
This article titled “Flybe profit warning sends share price crashing down” was written by Dan Milmo, for The Guardian on Thursday 5th May 2011 16.42 UTC Flybe’s £215m flotation has come crashing down as the carrier’s shares shed 25% of their value in the wake of a profit warning over waning consumer appetite for air travel. The Exeter-based regional carrier bases its appeal on “affordable travel from the most convenient airport” but admitted that lower high street spending in the UK had affected demand for cheap flights since the new year, with domestic routes among the hardest hit. Despite warning of cash-strapped customers, Flybe also announced a £3 fuel surcharge on all flights from September. Flybe said the slowdown in consumer outlay, already indicated by trading woes at high street names such as HMV and Mothercare, had affected “discretionary spend” on air travel and triggered significant analysts’ downgrades. Flybe said it expected pre-tax profits for this year to be broadly in line with the 2010/11 figures, which put it heavily out of kilter with analysts’ expectations. Investors ignored Flybe’s defence of its “resilient and flexible” business model of flying from small airports such as Southampton and Norwich, and sold the shares heavily. Shareholders had expected a pre-tax profit of about £36m, not the £22m indicated in the trading update, and Flybe’s shares slumped 25% to 172.50p, far below the flotation price of 295p last December. Flybe’s new investors included George Soros, the hedge fund tycoon, who acquired a 3.4% stake on flotation and whose more assured bets included starting a run on the pound in 1992. British Airways owns a further 15% of the business. One of the pioneers of add-on charges including baggage fees when it rebranded from British European in 2002, Flybe said the £3 fuel surcharge would be dropped if the price of Brent crude fell below $75 (£45.60) per barrel for 28 consecutive days; its current price is $117 per barrel. Flybe also indicated cutbacks on its domestic routes as it flagged the possible disposal of surplus aircraft, believed to include the Bombardier Q400 turboprop planes that are used on its UK services. In its trading update the company did not expand on its strategy of building its presence in continental Europe but it is understood that Flybe is standing by plans to add 35 Embraer aircraft to its 68-strong fleet, with the option of buying 105 more. The £66m float proceeds have been earmarked for the expansion, which includes codeshare deals where it operates flights on another carrier’s behalf. Iata warning The International Air Transport Association (Iata) warned that the financial markets have taken a bearish stance on airlines. Airline share prices have underperformed stock markets by 17% this year, Iata said, and investors now fear that carriers will be hard hit by higher fuel costs – about a quarter of the industry’s cost base – and the consequent effect on demand as higher prices hit sales. “Financial markets, bullish over airlines through 2010, now believe the industry will suffer more than most in this high fuel cost and demand-shock environment,” said Iata. Flybe said demand from business travellers, who account for 45% of its customers, remained strong. “This sector has proved very resilient,” said Flybe, echoing recent comments by Iata, which said demand for business class travel was holding up more strongly than in the back of the cabin. The premium airline market grew 7.7% in February, compared with a 3.3% improvement in economy class traffic.
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May 5 2011, 12:46pm | Comments »
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Libyan rebels advance on Muammar Gaddafi’s home town
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/03/28/libyan-rebels-advance-on-muammar-gaddafis-home-town
Revolutionaries move further west along Libya‘s coastal road, seizing several towns without resistance, and reach Sirte.
This article titled “Libyan rebels advance on Muammar Gaddafi’s home town” was written by Chris McGreal in Bin Jawad and Ian Black in Sirte, for The Guardian on Monday 28th March 2011 06.52 UTC Libyan rebels are advancing on Muammar Gaddafi’s home city, Sirte, after retaking all the ground lost in earlier fighting as government forces broke up and fled under western air strikes. Revolutionary forces rapidly moved more than 150 miles west along Libya’s coastal road, seizing several towns without resistance, as the first witness accounts emerged of the devastating effect on Gaddafi’s army and militia of the aerial bombardment that broke their resistance at Ajdabiya on Saturday. A Libyan rebel spokesman said Sirte had been captured by the rebels on Monday morning, but there is no sign the city has fallen. Sirte marks the boundary between the east and west of Libya and has great symbolic importance as Muammar Gaddafi’s hometown. The area was quiet after heavy bombardment from the pre-dawn hours and there was no sign it had been taken by the Benghazi-based rebels advancing from the east. It is rumoured that the outskirts have been planted with landmines. Rebels retook the important oil towns of Brega, Ras Lanuf and Ben Jawad, and continued on the open desert road towards Sirte, about 95 miles away. A doctor treating wounded government soldiers described hundreds of deaths, terrible injuries and collapsing morale. Two loud explosions were heard on Sunday night near Sirte. It was not immediately clear what had been hit but local people said a military installation in the city was bombed on Saturday night – one of many targeted across the country in a week of coalition strikes. Soldiers manning a mobile radar station on the outskirts of the city looked nervous as night fell and aircraft were heard overhead. Large numbers of armed men, militiamen as well as regular soldiers, were on the streets and there was less of the exuberant defiance and loyal pro-Gaddafi slogans of the sort heard constantly in Tripoli. Travelling eastwards from the capital, the war feels closer. In Bani Walid, south of Tripoli, tank transporters carrying dirty armoured fighting vehicles drew a small crowd, and an appreciative volley of machine gun fire. Other Libyan army vehicles moved west along the main road, including some heavy tanks – Soviet-made T-72s – but there were no signs of large-scale movement. Everywhere, there are long queues at petrol stations, sometimes with hundreds of vehicles stretching down the road as they wait. At one queue, drivers were relieved when a tanker finally delivered a load of fuel, but then reacted with frustration when there was no electricity to operate the pumps. As well as its political significance as Gaddafi’s birthplace, Sirte is seen as important to his defence of Tripoli, the capital, which is now less than 300 miles from the rebels’ frontline. Control of the oil terminals at Brega and Ras Lanuf is in itself a major gain because it could bring the rebel administration significant revenue from exports if production resumes. Rebels moved unchallenged along a road littered with evidence of the air campaign and the speed of their enemies’ retreat. The blackened carcasses of tanks, armoured vehicles and military trucks were pushed to the side of the road. In their hurried retreat from Ras Lanuf, government forces abandoned piles of ammunition. They included grey wooden boxes containing rockets but stamped as holding “parts of bulldozer”, manufactured in North Korea. In Bin Jawad, residents said a destroyed municipal building had been hit by an air strike. The rebels forced captured Gaddafi fighters on to buses and drove them to Benghazi. Witnesses described the bombing’s devastating effects on his forces. A doctor at the hospital in Ras Lanuf, which treated most of the government soldiers wounded in the coalition air raids on Ajdabiya and the road from Benghazi, described hundreds of casualties, breaking morale and many soldiers faking injuries to escape the assault. The doctor – who wished to be identified only by his first name, Abdullah – had responded to a call from Gaddafi’s government for medical personnel to go to the front two weeks ago. Today, he accidentally found himself on the rebel side of the line. “The first days, Gaddafi’s forces had very high morale and they came in large numbers, thousands. There were the army soldiers and then the volunteers in the militia,” he said. “They were fighting the rebels, no problem, and winning. But then came the bombing [by coalition air strikes]. The first day we had 56 seriously wounded. To the head, the brain, lost arms and legs. Soldiers with a lot of shrapnel in them. It was like that every day after.” Abdullah said all the wounded were on the Gaddafi side, with about two-thirds being those injured in the bombing of Ajdabiya where there were days of fighting as government forces blocked the rebel advance. The doctor said he did not know how many soldiers were killed in the air strikes, because the bodies were taken from the battlefield for burial. “The soldiers who came to the hospital told me there were 150 dead just on the first day of the bombing. After that, there were fewer because they hid,” he said. “It started to have a big effect on their morale. They said they could fight the rebels but not the planes. In recent days, many of the soldiers were trying to find excuses to leave the front. Ten to 20 a day came to the hospital pretending they were injured, asking for a medical certificate. They didn’t have any physical injuries, but I gave it [a certificate] to them.” Abdullah was sceptical about rebel accusations that many were foreign mercenaries. He said he had not see anyadded it was possible that some of the soldiers were not Libyan. But he did say that Gaddafi’s forces had systematically maltreated the civilian population, particularly those suspected of coming from the de facto rebel capital of Benghazi and other towns in the east under the revolutionaries’ control. “There was bad treatment of the civilians. One patient came here who had been trying to escape Ajdabiya with his family. The government army shot him in the leg,” he added. “The idea I got from civilians who came to the hospital is that things were very bad for them. They were beaten. Some said their family members had disappeared. They didn’t know if they were killed.” Some of Gaddafi’s forces were billeted in the el-Adeel hotel, in Ras Lanuf, which they looted as they fled, taking mattresses and televisions and levering open cash machines in the lobby. On walls across the town they sprayed in green paint three words: “God, Gaddafi, Libya.” Beyond Sirte lies the large town of Misrata, most of which is in rebel hands after an attempt by Gaddafi to retake it was driven off by air strikes. Government forces kept up their shelling at the weekend, although residents said it was considerably less intense than a week ago, after 12 hours of aerial bombardment by western planes destroyed more than 20 tanks and drove Gaddafi’s forces to the edge of the town.One rebel, Sami, told Reuters by telephone that pro-Gaddafi forces had fought with rebels in Misrata. “All day long we heard clashes between rebels and Gaddafi forces in the area of Tripoli Street, in the city centre,” he said. “We heard tanks, mortars and light weapons being used.” Misrata is the only big rebel stronghold left in the west of Libya and is cut off from the main rebel force fighting Gaddafi’s troops in the east.
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March 28 2011, 5:09pm | Comments »
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Benghazi rebels plead for Libya air strikes as Gaddafi forces advance
Gaddafi forces advance into rebel stronghold of Benghazi as international forces discuss military options against Libya
This article titled “Benghazi rebels plead for Libya air strikes as Gaddafi forces advance” was written by Chris McGreal in Benghazi, for The Observer on Saturday 19th March 2011 17.10 UTC Between the earthshaking thud of the artillery shells rattling nerves and buildings across Benghazi, a single question emerged time and again. On occasions it was delivered as a baffled plea by middle-aged men gathered on the city’s seafront as they anxiously awaited the latest word on the fighting. At other times, the question was shouted in anger by young men manning the barricades and facing the threatened onslaught with Kalashnikovs and petrol bombs. “Where are the air strikes? Why is the west waiting until it is too late?” asked Khalid el-Samad, a 27-year-old chemical engineer, who shook his finger in fury. “Sarkozy said it. Obama said it. Gaddafi must stop. So why do they do nothing? Is it just talk while we die?” The de facto capital of Libya’s revolution awoke to discover that its wild celebrations over the UN security council’s declaration of a no-fly zone and Muammar Gaddafi’s calling of a ceasefire on Friday were premature. Benghazi’s residents had imagined the city was saved by the west’s threat of air strikes unless Gaddafi halted his attacks on Libya’s rebellious towns. But at dawn the dictator’s army was fighting its way into the country’s second largest city of about 700,000 people using rockets and tanks. Benghazi reeled in shock as the rebels initially fell back and then fought hard to contain the assault while artillery fire rocked parts of the city for much of the day. Dozens of people were killed, among them the civilians the UN resolution was pledged to protect, and hospitals treated an even larger number wounded. As the fighting intensified, thousands fled east towards the Egyptian border in cars, pick-up trucks and buses crammed with people and what was most precious or essential – bedding and cooking pots. Alongside the angry questions over the lack of air strikes was bafflement that the western powers had apparently been duped into believing Gaddafi’s false promise of a ceasefire that bought him time to launch the assault on Benghazi by delaying military action French officials had suggested was imminent. “In 42 years we learned never to trust Gaddafi,” said Hassan Khalafa, an accountant carrying a Kalashnikov at a checkpoint near the former courthouse that serves as the revolutionary government’s headquarters. “He always lies. The only time he told the truth is when he said he will kill all of us in Benghazi. France and America and the UN have been fooled by him.” As dusk settled, Gaddafi’s gamble was still in the balance. His assault on Benghazi was fended off for now, although there remained a concern that his forces could still surround the city and cut it off. Paris and London had appeared to be on the brink of military action, with French planes carrying out reconnaissance flights over Libya, after accusing him of lying over the ceasefire. But the people of Benghazi will not feel safe until the man who has controlled their country for 42 years is overthrown. Gaddafi’s assault on the rebel stronghold was led by forces that broke away from the attack on the town of Ajdabiya, 90 miles along the coast, in what appeared an effort to seize Benghazi before Tripoli is forced to halt its bid to crush the month-long popular uprising. The Libyan leader’s army smashed its way into the south east of the city while much of it slept, quickly seizing a military base and the university. The rebels established a line of defence beyond the city’s zoo and one of its main hospitals. Fighters manning large machine guns fitted to the back of pick-up trucks said that Gaddafi’s soldiers were a few blocks away. Benghazi’s mosques broadcast a call to arms mixed with prayers for the rebel fighters. In the neighbourhoods on the frontline of the fighting, the persistent sound of Kalashnikov fire was periodically drowned out by the explosion of a shell. Sometimes the thud of artillery was so loud it shook buildings across the city. Thick smoke drifted across the embattled areas. Deeper into the city, the revolution’s volunteers threw up makeshift barricades. Some were jumpy. Early in the day, they shot dead two men in a car they alleged were Nigerian mercenaries. The revolutionaries said they had discovered hand grenades in the vehicle. But they would not be the first innocent foreign nationals to die or be arrested in the climate of paranoia about mercenaries fighting for Gaddafi. The young rebels, full of bravado but with little or no military experience, swaggered with Kalashnikovs, hand grenades and petrol bombs. “We will all fight to the death,” said Khalafa, the accountant. “We will die anyway if Gaddafi comes back. He said he will hunt every one of us down. You can’t reason with a man like that. Everyone who joined the revolution said it was him or us. We have tasted freedom. We have spoken the thoughts in our head when we never dared before. We have laughed at the devil. We will never go back to hiding.” But before Gaddafi’s better armed troops and tanks could bring their weight to bear the more experienced fighters, some of whom had defected from the government side, kept the attackers from reaching the heart of the city. Still, there was a notable shift in discipline as the random fire by hyped-up young men that had become part of daily life in Benghazi largely ceased as they realised they might need the ammunition to fight. Early in the day, the city had watched in apprehension as a lone military jet made a couple of runs over Benghazi. As it passed overhead, those immediately below eyed the plane for a bomb breaking away. Suddenly the aircraft twisted and dropped sharply. A second or two later a flicker of flame became a fireball. The plane seemed to fall slowly, like a flare. Its pilot ejected but it was too late for his parachute to open. As the aircraft hit the ground and erupted in to an even larger ball of fire, Benghazians watched awestruck. There were cheers, but some among the revolutionaries knew that the doomed Russian-made plane was their only jet fighter in the air in defiance of the no-fly zone they had demanded. The aircraft had apparently been preparing to attack Gaddafi’s forces when it was hit. As the battle wore on, the head of the revolutionary council, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, put out a desperate plea. “The international community is late in intervening to save civilians from Gaddafi’s forces. Today in Benghazi there will be a catastrophe if the international community does not implement the resolutions of the UN security council. We appeal to the international community, to the all the free world, to stop this tyranny from exterminating civilians,” he told Al-Jazeera. He said that the rebels were facing a better armed enemy. “We only have light arms. Gaddafi seems to have new and powerful weapons,” he said. Benghazians closely followed every statement by western leaders and then threw it back at them. The US president said Gaddafi was in violation of the UN resolution and that all attacks on civilians must stop. France said action was imminent. Britain warned that preparations were under way for an attack. But as the day wore on, the city continued to fight on its own. The mood in Benghazi has ridden a rollercoaster of fears and expectations since the early days of the uprising when the revolutionaries deluded themselves that Gaddafi would be gone within days. The growing fears of an attack on the city, and the bloody retribution that would follow, gave way to an ecstatic flirtation with relief after the UN imposed the no-fly zone and Gaddafi called a ceasefire. But the hope proved short-lived. The hints from Paris of military action by France within hours of the UN declaration proved as illusionary as the ceasefire. There was immediate scepticism on the rebel side when the government said it was halting military operations, but the revolutionary leadership’s concern was that Gaddafi was trying to remove the justification for air attacks so he could divide the country and continue to cling on to the parts of Libya he still controlled. As it turns out, Gaddafi bought himself at least enough time to launch the attack on Benghazi. The Libyan dictator appeared to be trying to take the rebel stronghold and finally crush the uprising before any foreign military intervention could curtail the assault. The rebel leadership realised that it would be nearly impossible for foreign planes to strike against Gaddafi forces inside the city because of the politically unacceptable risk of civilian casualties and appealed for immediate action. The delay as France was meeting its Nato allies to discuss action was met with disbelief. The regime’s officials kept up the pretence that the government was holding to the ceasefire and that the fighting was somehow the responsibility of al-Qaida, in a vain attempt to persuade the rest of the world that there was no reason for air strikes. But any pretence was exposed by a letter Gaddafi wrote to David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy that dismissed the UN resolution. “Libya is not yours. Libya is for the Libyans. The security council resolution is invalid,” the letter said. As the day wore on, the rebels gained the upper hand and by late afternoon claimed to have driven off the initial assault and captured tanks and prisoners. One of the tanks was paraded on the waterfront along with an armoured vehicle fitted with a rocket launcher. Children climbed over them and adults took it as a sign that all is not lost even if there was still no word on air strikes. But the celebrations were tempered by the realisation that Gaddafi’s forces had moved great distances in just a few days and struck at the heart of the revolution. Having done it once, the immediate concern was that they could do it again, and harder next time. Or perhaps they would just surround Benghazi and turn it in to an outpost of liberation to be slowly strangled. The question asked so forcefully earlier in the day came up once again: where is the promised defence?
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March 19 2011, 12:34pm | Comments »
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Libya unrest: Allies assemble arsenal for possible strike against Gaddafi
Air and naval forces from north America, Europe and Middle East prepare to implement UN’s no-fly resolution. No to Western military intervention
This article titled “Libya unrest: Allies assemble arsenal for possible strike against Gaddafi” was written by Robert Booth, for guardian.co.uk on Friday 18th March 2011 21.20 UTC Military leaders from north America, Europe and the Middle East are scrambling to draw together a multi-national arsenal of fighter jets, warships and reconnaissance planes ready to strike Libya, after the broad United Nations resolution authorising attacks on Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s regime. The UK, the US, Canada, France and at least one of the Gulf states look likely to take part in enforcing what has been described as a “no-fly” and “no-drive” zone over Libya. British Typhoon and Tornado fighter jets are expected to deploy from their bases in Lincolnshire and Norfolk this weekend, along with Nimrod surveillance aircraft equipped with sophisticated radar, jamming and listening devices deployed at Sigonella, Sicily, home to a Nato base and US naval air station. It is also possible that Awacs aircraft in Afghanistan could be redeployed, while HMS Cumberland and HMS Westminster are off the Libyan coast. US naval forces have been gathering in the Mediterranean for the last week. A battle group of five vessels led by the ageing aircraft carrier USS Enterprise includes the nuclear-powered submarine USS Providence and the destroyer USS Mason which both entered via the Suez canal last Saturday from the Red Sea. The USS Kearsarge is also in the area with a contingent of US marines on board. The USS Mason, a guided missile destroyer, was in port in Haifa, northern Israel, on Wednesday.Military strategists said air surveillance would play a large part of any coalition operation against Libya. “Surveillance will be 60% of the strategy if the plan is to dissuade Libyan aircraft from taking off,” said Professor Trevor Taylor, head of the centre for defence management and leadership at Cranfield University. “Ground surveillance will be much more important still if the Libyans start using armoured vehicles because that will multiply the number of targets.” The role of the surveillance aircraft becomes more important if the allied forces decide not to blitz Libya’s military assets pre-emptively, but to act only in response to provocation. Nato’s likely support for the operation would allow the use of a flight of Awacs surveillance planes used for command and control and based at Geilenkirchen in Germany. The alliance’s surveillance Awacs planes flying off the Libyan coast are already providing 24-hour coverage of the situation in the air and on the battlefields. The US has a squadron of Boeing 707 jets converted for ground surveillance use based at Robins air force base in Georgia. The surveillance planes have a longer range than fighter jets, which Professor Taylor said would ideally be based much closer to Libya. “I have a feeling they will look to have assets quite close to allow a quick reaction,” he said. France has air bases in Orange and Istres in the south of the country from which it is expected to deploy Mirage and Rafale fighters, or from the island of Corsica, around an hour’s fast flight from Libya. Airborne refuelling tanker aircraft are also ready to depart from Istres, and the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier is at the Mediterranean port of Toulon. Canada is expected to deploy six CF-18 fighter planes from a base in Quebec after the prime minister Stephen Harper, said the situation in Libya “remains intolerable”. The CF-18 aircraft’s radar can track targets from great distances, at night and in low visibility. The planes will be supported by as many as 200 Canadian military personnel. Diplomats have said Arab countries likely to participate in possible strikes include Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. Of those, Saudi Arabia has the greatest capacity to strike with its 161 attack aircraft including UK-supplied Tornados and Typhoons. The UAE has a force of 142 F-16 and Mirage fighters, Qatar has 12 Mirage 2000 fighters and Jordan has 53 Mirage and Fighting Falcon ground attack aircraft.
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March 18 2011, 4:54pm | Comments »
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I posted to distributedresearch.net
Arc Royal to extend London City Airport
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/02/22/arc-royal-to-extend-london-city-airport
An article in the Daily Mail Online reports that the decommissioned air craft carrier Arc Royal could be ‘saved’ and used as a helipad in London. The intended location turns out to be right next to London City Airport, in effect providing an instant additional runway to the controversial inner city airfield within the London borough of Newham. Ark Royal could be saved from the scrapheap under plans to turn it into a heliport.
The Royal Navy aircraft carrier, axed in last October’s defence cuts and due to be decommissioned next month, could be based on the Thames by May 2012. The 693ft vessel would be manned by around 150 former servicemen, for whom it would be both a home and a job, and would cater for City workers, police helicopters and London’s air ambulance. Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope, the head of the Navy, said the move could safeguard the future of the carrier, and the Ministry of Defence confirmed it was considering the plan. Currently in Portsmouth, the ship would be moored in the Royal Docks near City Airport to comply with noise-pollution rules. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1358880/Ark-Royal-new-future–floating-helipad-Thames.html
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February 22 2011, 3:22am | Comments »
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I posted to distributedresearch.net
Ash Grounds Planes, Rest Of World Cut Off
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2010/04/17/ash-grounds-planes-rest-of-world-cut-off
The rest of the world remains isolated today as the volcanic ash cloud from Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull eruption continues to ground nearly all flights in or out of UK airports for a third day. People are only just starting to understand the implications of this drastic shit down for the airline industries and for the wider economy, and to think twice about how reliant so many human activities have become on air freight and passenger services. If you want to get back to the UK today there are only two ways to do it – by taking to the now crowded international (eg Dover – Calais) ferry routes or through the channel tunnel by Eurostar or shuttle. @HeathrowAirport No flights arriving or departing from Heathrow until 6am tomorrow, at the earliest. Next update due at 8pm this evening #ashtag The obvious advice during this unprecedented period is not to set off without a booking, and if due to fly next week, keep checking the flight news before leaving for the airport. Nobody knows how long it will take to get everything back to normal, or how long the ash cloud will persist. The volcano is still emitting plumes of ash and the weather conditions remain stable with the dangerous (to jet engines) cloud spreading all over the UK and Europe.
For people who aren’t planning on going anywhere the skies are uniquely empty of aircraft noise and jet trails bringing a surprising tranquility to areas which don’t normally think of themselves as bothered by flight paths, and for photographers the light conditions are perceptively different, with unbroken hazy blue sky scapes. @MarinaPepper Deeply textured bird song – no deep rumbling roar or whining. Hadn’t realised how horrid Gatwick noise was even here in #Lewes #ashtag
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April 17 2010, 2:18am | Comments »
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