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| Must have accessory for your unreconstructed football manager, a classic Rolls Royce Silver Cloud MkII and non matching snow plough...... |
The number of flights cancelled as a precautionary measure out of London has now topped 100, with the number still rising and all intending air travellers are strongly advised to contact their airline ( ie not the airport) before leaving home.
In times like these also follow or seek out on digital radio BBC5Live The Independent Newspaper Travel editor @simoncalder who like Father Christmas seems to have a legion of identical clones stationed on all TV and radio channels and broadcasting simultaneously. No mean feat!
Julian Bray Aviation Expert writes: Simply expect widespread disruption, cancellations and merging of schedules as the 'Beast from the East - ACT 2' - gale force winds, bitterly cold minus 10 chill factor, heavy dumps of snow, blizzards and drifting - is the dire prospect for this weekend, and then the 'cherry on the chaos' expect substantial knock on delays during the week, as aircraft will either be out of position, 'gone technical' awaiting the limited number of available de-icing crews before they can be moved.
The big problem is not so much the prospect of snow but the rapid icing up of aircraft wings which in effect alters the profile and greatly impacts on the 'lift capacity' of the upper wing surface. It also can also seriously affect the operation of an exposed sensor device ( allegedly of French origin....) called a Pitot tube. This can - if iced up - send duff information to the autopilot, and may catch out newer pilots, who may then act on the incorrect information displayed ... So if you see a man on a cherrypicker spraying your intended aircraft, be very,very pleased rather than grumble about delays!
SUNDAY UIPDATE: Meanwhile I was distressed to see on the BBC Sunday TV Footy show an interview with a so called football manager of the 'luddite' variety, who claimed there was no travel problems for visiting fans and that all roads were (in his view) clear and the snow was just so much nonsense... In the news bulletin immediately afterwards a picture of a deserted Volvo coach that narrowly missed turning over.
All transport is affected and where there is snow it will drift and freeze over on untreated road surfaces... hence the Met Office Amber Warnings
@JULIANBRAY +44(0)1733 345581, Journalist & Broadcaster, Aviation Security & Airline Operations Analyst/expert, ... http://feeds.feedburner.com/BraysDuckhouseBlogwww.aviationcomment.com, ... http://www.freelancedirectory.org/user.php?user=8121 ... www.freelancedirectory.org?name=Julian.Bray.aviation.comment, ... Aviation / Travel / Maritime & Cruise Industries, NUJ, EQUITY, LIVE ISDN LINK, Broadcast ISDN COOBE ++44 (0)1733 345020 ... SKYPE: JULIAN.BRAY.UK e&oe Old faithful NOKIA: 07944 217476
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