Airport chaos as volcanic ash moves in from Iceland

Travellers face a second day of massive disruption across Britain after air traffic controllers closed all UK airspace due to volcanic ash from an eruption in Iceland.   

The cloud of ash (see satellite video above) comes from the eruption of a volcano under the Eyjafjallajoekull glacier in Iceland. The problem is not visibility, but potential mechanical damage from abrasive materials such as volcanic glass and rock, which can wreak havoc when sucked into jet engines.

Disruption is total: all fights into and out of Britain have been cancelled until at least 7am tomorrow, April 17. Disruption could go on for days as the ash cloud moves into the British Isles from the Faroe Islands, at an altitude of 55,000ft. Most of Scandinavia is also affected.

Britain's National Air Traffic Services said: "The cloud of volcanic ash is now spread across the UK and continuing to travel south. In line with international civil aviation policy, no flights other than agreed emergencies are currently permitted in UK controlled airspace."

Iceland - where Britain is currently unpopular because of its demands that money lost in the Icesave bank collapse be repaid - is mostly unaffected by the ash. A spokesperson for Isavia, Iceland's air traffic control, told the Times: "The ash is going out to the ocean and to Europe so our airports aren't really affected. It's almost funny, except it isn't, obviously."

Dr David Rothery, a vulcanologist at the Open University, explained the problem posed by ash to aircraft. "If volcanic ash particles are ingested into a jet engine, they accumulate and clog the engines with molten glass," he told the BBC.

He explained that the standard procedure for a pilot faced with an ash cloud is to immediately reduce power and drop below the cloud, where the inrush of cold, clean air into the engines should shatter the volcanic glass. Nevertheless, he added: "The forward windows may have become so badly abraded by ash that they are useless, and the plane has to land on instruments." ·