Chris Mullin, after commenting in his diary on the apathy of the electorate during the 2001 election campaign, went on to speculate about what it might take to arrest this freefall. He guessed that “the rot will continue until we are blasted out of our indolence by … an environmental catastrophe (but only one that affects us directly – someone else’s catastrophe won’t make any difference)”
How very prescient though I don’t know if he had a volcanic eruption in mind, & he did not foresee the X Factor effect of the tv debates.
A divide has certainly opened up between those who saw the grounding of flights as a cause of tragedy & loss, for complaint & whingeing, a demonstration of official incompetence, & those who saw it as an adventure, or challenge, an opportunity to be a part of history, to use their own initiative rather than be hampered by procedures & form filling, waiting for government or some other THEM to come to the rescue. This has been very instructive, though whether it will be translated into voting remains to be seen.
Of course lessons need to be learned, but instead of carping why not be grateful that the experts had been thinking about all this, making contingency plans in advance. IATA, the International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Associations, and the International Council of Aircraft Owner and Pilot Associations all participate in this work of the International Civil Aviation Organisation which set up those Volcanic Ash Contingency Plans & gave the responsibility to the London Met Office. OK so their model could be, has been improved as a result of the unprecedented experience we now have, but just imagine what it must have been like for those who were having to decide what to do while it was all happening - & be grateful that we did not just learn about it by having a plane full of Easter holiday makers drop suddenly out of the sky.
Nobody who spoke of knowing how to cope with flying through ash has had to do it in the crowded skies of western Europe. One pilot explained that standard procedure on finding oneself in such a cloud is to do an immediate 180° turn & descend; that may be fine over the Pacific, but over London or Paris? It does not bear thinking about.
Meanwhile one of the most interesting & constructive suggestions to come out of this was contained in a letter to the editor of The Times:
Sir, As a child I used a footpath that was closed once a year to establish that the use was a privilege, not a right. Perhaps we should close the skies once a year.
John Chambers Tadworth, Surrey
